In Order to Save Face
by fuego92
Summary: After his encounter with Voldemort, Harry is kidnapped from the Potters by Peter Pettigrew and left with a random family. Years later the effects of his decision will mean a very different Boy-Who-Lived. Is the Wizarding World ready for Alexei Ivanov? AU
1. Prologue

**A/N: Okay so this was the first story I ever wrote for fanfiction. It is currently being rewritten because I thought it could have been a lot better. This chapter has already been rewritten and I'm in the process of doing so with the other ones as well. Hope you enjoy! :)  
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**Disclaimer: I obviously do not own anything that you recognize, specifically anything Harry Potter related.**

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**The Prologue**

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Peter Pettigrew was dumbstruck. This had most definitely not been covered in the plan. He stared down at the empty shell of the former Dark Lord Voldemort with acute panic.

His former master was sprawled lifeless against the wall, lacking any of the cold dignity that the man had positively oozed while he had been alive. The normally cruel visage that had scared many a man witless was instead that of shock and utmost horror. Oh no, this had most definitely not been part of the plan.

He brought a trembling hand to his greasy, slightly sweaty forehead and pondered the position he had been put in. If he was honest, he had put himself in this position, through the betrayal of friends that he had once considered family, but his former master seemed to be incapable of hurting Wormtail in the slightest at the moment and that meant he could blame the Dark Lord all he wanted.

The original plan had been to- he shuddered- _kill_ the boy while the elder Potters were out so when they returned they would find nothing but their only son dead in his crib.

It had been thought by the Dark Lord, who's grasp on the concept of love was iffy at best, that their intense grieving would make them weaker than ever before and thereby eliminate them as a potential threat, or so he had told Wormtail.

However Wormtail, despite his many unpleasant flaws, was very good at gathering intel and it was not long before he had heard rumor of a prophesy that involved a child with the power to defeat the Dark Lord. When he had first overheard the tale he had believed it to be nothing but wishful gossiping among the frightened wizards of England. Now, he wasn't so sure. After all the body of his master lying not two feet away indicated that this supposed prophesy might have been real.

If Peter had not seen it with his own eyes he would not have believed it.

In his mind's eye, he watched as Voldemort strode lazily over to the crib, where a pair of bright green eyes could be seen peeking through the rails. The child sat calmly a blanket clutched in one chubby fist and a question in his eyes. His confusion was not surprising, after all the boy had only met a select few people what with being in hiding and Voldemort had almost certainly not been one of them.

Voldemort moved his wand to the boy's forehead, brushing aside a tuft of black hair casually, as his lips began forming the most feared unforgivable curse. Looking back, it was almost comical; the way the boy had stared cross eyed at the stick thrust between his eyes and how the back-firing spell had tossed the most feared wizard in all of wizarding Britain like a rag doll into the baby blue walls of the child's bedroom. Peter could almost see the canaries flying around the Dark Lord's head.

Peter shook himself. Well the boy definitely had James' knack for doing the unexpected…James. He couldn't let his old friend know his part in this. If he knew how he had sold them out to save his own hide… It was one thing if the Dark Lord was around to protect him, but it was a whole other scenario to face the wrath of the Potters, Remus, Sirius and the Order of the Phoenix all on his own. Peter had never been a very competent wizard and he knew quite well he was not a match for any of them by himself, let alone all of them.

He could lie about it, but in the end there was too many ways to dig it out of him-veritaserum, torture, even the imperius- no it was best to run.

But then, what about Harry? When Lily and James came home to find him gone, the Dark Lord's body, and a wounded Harry, they would surely investigate. All it would take is a decent legilimens to find out what happened and they were certain to contact Dumbledore about the situation immediately.

There was nothing else for it he would have to…_kill_ him…

He raised his wand to the young boy's forehead and tried not to think about what he was about to do.

The child had just stopped his wailing over his encounter with Voldemort and looked up at him with those great green eyes, perplexed. "Wummy?" he said.

Peter dropped his wand with a clatter; he couldn't do it.

He knew in his shriveled up little rat-like heart that there was no way in hell he would ever be able to kill a child, especially not this child. This boy was the only being he could ever remember that looked at him without pity or disgust. This child, young though he might be, had always looked at him with those wide green eyes as if he was someone worth knowing.

He still couldn't stay here though, and Peter wasn't about to raise the boy; his sympathy did not reach quite that far. The kid might like him now, but he _would_ find out what happened eventually and when that day came he would surely murder him in his sleep.

It came to him quickly; he would just drop the boy off at some random house and he would never be found.

It had only been one of those wild thoughts you get when you are really panicking, but the more he thought on it the more he liked the idea. There would be no way for the Potters, or anyone for that matter, to track the boy down as it would truly be like picking a needle from a haystack.

So long as the people within the house did not send him to an orphanage, where he would be put on record, it would be nearly impossible to find him.

Mind set, Peter scooped up the child gently, wrapping him securely in his yellow baby blanket just like Lily had shown him and apparated to London. This was a mistake.

The moment he touched ground the only sound that could be heard was Harry's screaming. He forced his shaky hand over the kid's mouth to quiet the cries and set off looking for the biggest, most well-kept, and expensive looking house he could find.

His logic being that the nicer the place, the more likely they had enough money to take care of the currently bawling toddler. Rich people would be less likely to send him off to the orphanage than someone who would struggle to make the ends meet.

He skittered along the dark streets until he spied a large white brick building that had flower boxes mounted on every window. _This one seems nice enough._

He placed baby Harry down on the ground, who quickly quit his crying out of surprise, and rapped loudly on the door three times before scampering off as a rat to watch what happened from the street.

A light inside the house came on immediately and soon a man had the door cracked to show one wary brown eye and the barrel of a gleaming silver handgun.

_Okay…Maybe this wasn't the best house to leave him at._

Seeing no-one the man opened the door further and revealed a tall, muscular physique absolutely covered in tattoos. In his inspection of the street outside he eventually looked down to see baby Harry at his sock-clad feet.

The child giggled at his bewildered face and did not protest when the man stooped to pick him up.

As the man walked in and closed the door behind him, he yelled; "Elisha, come look what I found!"

His work done, Peter scurried down an exposed sewage pipe and began his new lonely life as a fugitive.

_Try not to get yourself discovered Harry, wouldn't want your Uncle 'Wummy' to get killed now would ya'?_

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_**A/N: Tell me what you think in the good old review section, but do try not to make me cry and or avoid my email out of fear for hateful reviews. :)**_  
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	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is the second redone chapter and I have to say, I hadn't realized just how short it originally was...I'm really glad to be redoing these now. Hopefully this story will be what it should have been by the time I'm through.**

**Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own Harry Potter, or Doctor Who either.  
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**Chapter 1**

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Professor Albus Dumbledore sat calmly in a comfy leather armchair gazing over his steepled fingers, as the young woman before him fidgeted nervously.

Oh, how he loved it when they squirmed.

The dark-haired young woman, Anya she had said, was in the process of convincing him that he should take on two new students; her sixteen year-old brothers.

She claimed that while they were excellent students under their father's tutelage, since his passing they had been increasingly rebellious and short-tempered. The fact that she was in their eyes a big sister rather than a guardian, coupled with their closeness in age, meant they did not regard her as an authority figure.

In other words, they were beyond her control _but _she had stressed, she felt that with the help of a proper school such as Hogwarts that they could be brought back to their former discipline.

Although, it was not exactly common, her case was not too unusual; there had been situations such as this in the past where older students, due to varying circumstances, would be transferred in later than was the norm.

However it had not happened in over a decade, not because of a lack of applicants but due to the problems usually caused by someone unused to schooling being thrown into it at a late age. Traditional schooling, along with the rules that governed the students lives were something that had to be eased into and it was easier when the student was young and impressionable. Students that had been indoctrinated when they were eleven, had no issues with the rules by the time they were sixteen, as it was as much a part of their lives as breathing.

Although Dumbledore had been called out to meet prospective students before, none of them had been of any particular interest other than the lateness of which they were beginning school. Not so, for the students he was now considering for entry.

The two young men in particular were the oft remarked upon Ivanov Twins.

The pair were notorious throughout the United Kingdom and across Europe for their magical skill and warrior mentality.

They were also reported to be millionaire playboys by the more gossipy magazines that published scandalous pictures of the pair in various places with many different young women beside testimonials of sordid affairs.

Whatever the truth about them was, they had a big reputation and it could either hurt Hogwarts or, if he was lucky improve the school beyond his wildest dreams.

In a world torn asunder by Voldemort's rebirth, possibly having the famously powerful twins on the light side could be a turning point in the war or at the very least raise the morale.

It would certainly boost his that was for sure. The prophecy that had carried his hopes for a future without Voldemort had not come to pass as he had expected and he feared the worst. Fresh blood could only help them at this point.

The twins had become famous for their skill in the dueling circuit in Europe and were regarded as two of the most talented young wizards to be seen in quite some time. If they could pass on some of their knowledge to the students of Hogwarts and join the Order of the Phoenix in the fight, Voldemort would have a much more difficult war this time around.

It was with these thoughts buzzing through his head like a swarm of bees that he granted the boys enrollment. He was shaken from his thoughts by a scream.

The young woman sprang from her perch on the edge of the seat in her excitement, all smiles as she shook his hand vigorously, "You won't regret this Professor Dumbledore, I _promise_!" she said with a smile.

As she walked him to the door he thought to himself, _"For the sake of the war, I do hope you are right."_

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As soon as the door had closed on Dumbledore's star spangled robes, Anya commenced her impromptu victory dance.

Fists pumping in the air, legs kicking out, and spinning in tight circles, she screamed for joy. She didn't care if she was acting like a fool; the terrible twins were going to finally be out of her hair!

It wasn't like she didn't love her little brothers, in fact if anything over the past few months they had grown closer than ever before. But she had come home to too many parties, got into too many fights, and been worried too much about what they were getting up to while she was at work.

Lately they had been getting into all kinds of trouble and she couldn't take anymore of it.

Without their father and mother to keep them in line, they had been royal terrors; spray-painting buildings, hanging out in clubs, coming home drunk, and getting involved in street fights.

They had yet to get seriously hurt, but she knew it was only a matter of time before they got into some real trouble and she wanted to avoid that route at all costs. Her parents had worked too hard to give them a good life to have it all torn apart by the boys' out of control antics. The road that they were headed down is not one that their parents would have wanted for them.

She may have promised Dumbledore that he wouldn't regret taking them, but right now she hoped to God, she had made the right decision in sending them there.

"_After what they've been through these past months, the last thing I want is for them to feel like I'm shipping them off to military school."_ She mused as she picked up the remote control.

She sank down into her favorite leather armchair, kicked up her feet and prepared herself to sit back and watch a marathon of Doctor Who.

It was then that she noticed it. The screen of her brand new HD big screen television was cracked dead center.

Her face crumbled like old bread. _Her baby… _Unlike her brothers, she was not okay with just spending the family fortune whenever she felt like, _she _had a job and it had taken a lot of time and effort to make enough to buy that television. Sure she could replace it, but that was not the point, it was the work behind it that made it special.

Her eyes focused on a yellow post-it note fastened directly above the wreckage that read:

"_Sorry, guess it wasn't a good idea to practice our dueling in the living room. Be back in a few hours;_

_Love,_

_ Your adoring and guilt-ridden brothers, Roman & Alexei."_

Anya's face was turning a fantastic shade of magenta as she finished the 'apology letter'. "_Then again," _she thought slamming down the remote,_ "maybe military school isn't such a bad idea…a little boot camp never hurt anybody…"_

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_**A/N: Tell me what you think :)**_  
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	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: The third chapter is now redone, and I hope that you all enjoy it!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, end of story.  
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**Chapter 2**

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Walking around muggle London with no particular place to go, Roman and Alexei Ivanov decided to take a stroll through a muggle CD shop.

Both of the boys were big fans of muggle music and they took any opportunity to catch up on the latest albums coming out. Seeing as right now the only thing they had to do was stay out of the apartment until their sister had cooled off about the television, it was the perfect time for it.

They knew how much their sister valued that television, in fact she practically worshipped it; now would not be a good time to return.

The pair strode straight for the Rock aisle and set to work sifting through the albums. Entirely focused on the hunt, they tuned everything else out while they did it, including the giggling girls watching them from the next aisle over.

Although irritating, this was easily ignored because giggling girls tended to follow them everywhere they went, almost like they had an entourage.

It was mostly because of their father's fortune, but it was also spurned on by the rumors of their familial relations to the mafia, which caused many a girl to believe they were bad boys. The Wizarding World featured them in magazines, mostly about their prowess on the dueling circuit. This they did not mind so much, since it was actually something they had done, rather than silly rumors. Of course there were other magazines that featured them as well, ones for teen girls, but those they tried not to think about too much.

The only place the girls didn't follow them was inside of their home and that was only because of the infamous fan-girl incident of 2007.

A crazed witch had crawled into Roman's window at approximately 2:32 AM and Roman, having been caught unawares, screamed (like a little girl according to Alexei) and the girl was so shocked that she fell off the window ledge.

Luckily, Roman's window was not very high up and the girl managed to fall into the open trashcan below which cushioned her fall. She came out of it with minor scratches and bruises as well as a brand new restraining order.

While she had been sad to be forcibly restrained by court order, she had the consolation of getting to see the brothers in suits when they had to appear in court.

Roman had become especially paranoid after the incident, not helped by the fact that Alexei had found a hilarious new pastime in making noises outside of his room at night that sounded like a high-pitched giggle. He only stopped after the night Roman hung him out of the window until he promised to stop.

Despite the boys' somewhat unkind antics towards each other, they had always been very close and while the two young men were known as twins, they were certainly not identical. In fact, they barely even looked like brothers. The only features they really shared were their raven black hair, tan coloring, and tall lithe build.

Their faces were quite different, though they were both handsome in their own way.

Roman had a rugged, roguish look about him with his dark twinkling eyes and dark thick brows that were usually cocked in a sarcastic sort of way. His hair fell in dark waves around his face and accented his rather strong jaw.

Alexei at first glance appeared wild and slightly dangerous, with his black hair falling into his cat-like emerald green eyes. He possessed a rather thin face with dark furrowed brows. He had been approached many times about modeling, something Roman ragged on him about mercilessly, but he had always turned them down.

Of course, though they were not really twins, they acted as though they were, for they had been raised that way. Alexei had been adopted into the family when he was only a year old, having been found on the Ivanov's doorstep late one night, with no note or form of identification.

Originally the Ivanov's had planned to take the child to the orphanage, after all they already had two young children of their own, but one look into the child's great green orbs and they could not bear to give the babe up. He was christened Alexei and soon became so much a part of the Ivanov family that it was as if he had always been there.

Since his date of birth, and just about everything else, was unknown and he appeared to be about the same age as their own young son, they chose to raise them as twin brothers. It was not until much later on, that they were told he was adopted.

Their father, Dimitri Ivanov, trained both boys in the art of combat both magical and muggle from an early age. It had been obvious not long after the boy had come to live there that he was magical, just like the other children. They worked together as sparring partners and as such the boys' knew from the slightest of movements what the other was planning.

This skill became a great asset to them later when they would get involved in real fights and they were able to work together seamlessly. This also came in handy when planning pranks and just getting up to mischief in general.

The even had a set of hand signals that they used occasionally, mostly for duels, but it came in handy when they had been forced to sit silently by their parents.

Their father also taught them how to use various weaponry shortly followed by plenty of warnings on when and when not to use them. This had been more for their mother's benefit than the boys.

Alongside their training for battle, he also made sure they spoke fluent Russian, a very important thing since everyone on his side of the family spoke the language and did not like speaking English when they did not have to.

Their mother, Elisha, had been utterly bewildered when she had first met her husband's family. She had no idea what anyone was talking about and had spent most of her time nodding and smiling.

After it was over she had demanded that he teach her as much as he could so she would never have to go through that again. Unfortunately for her, she had still struggled quite a bit with it, but she had vastly improved since that first encounter.

Besides the benefits of speaking another language, it also gave them an easy way to speak of private issues without worry of being overheard.

Suddenly, the boys' CD search was interrupted by a very much unwelcome guest.

"Well, if it isn't the Ivanov Twins," sneered a pudgy brown haired boy.

It was none other than Ben Thomson, one of the brothers' many enemies. Thomson was distinguished on their list of foes for being one of the most moronic.

"What do you want Benny-boy, we're busy." drawled Roman.

"Yeah, we don't exactly have time for you today," added Alexei, neither of them looking up from their CD hunt.

Thomson's eyes narrowed and he clenched a pudgy fist threateningly.

"Make time. I've been hearing rumors all last week that you've been seen with my girl," growled Thomson.

Roman yawned widely and responded, "Who exactly is this girl you speak of?" he was still sorting through the stack of albums and had yet to actually look up.

There was a clunk as Ben stamped a one of cowboy boots indignantly. "You know who I mean, Angela!"

Finally looking up, "Angela's not your girl, she's just the girl you've been stalking," Alexei replied with a look that told Ben quite plainly that he was an idiot. "You would think that the way that she ignores you and stomps on those stupid boots of yours if you attempt to make contact would clue you in."

"She's just playing hard to get!" he squealed.

"Right…" chimed in Roman "Well either way, neither of us have been near a girl named Angela, so if you would just run along home, it would be much appreciated." He said with a vapid smile.

"Fine, but you haven't seen the last of me, I'm watching you two." He walked out of the store backwards, pointing his index and middle finger to his eyes and back to them again. In the process, he backed into an elderly lady on the sidewalk, knocking all of the bags out of her arms and somehow poking himself in the eye.

"I honestly don't know how he expects us to be frightened of him when he does stupid shite like that." Alexei commented with a tone of wonder.

"One of life's mysteries." said Roman idly as he made his way to the cash register to pay for two CDs.

After Roman finished making his purchases the two teens walked back outside where the sun was just beginning to go down and decided to head back home. Best case scenario, Anya may have chosen to go out tonight and would not be home when they got there.

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**A/N: Review? :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Nope, rest assured that I do not own Harry Potter or any of his little friends.**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! :)**

**Chapter 3**

Unfortunately, this was not the case. Anya was just as angry as they expected her to be and more.

"What the hell is wrong with you two?!" her long black hair whipping around her face as she made violent hand gestures "I leave you alone for two hours and you bust in the television set! You're sixteen years old, I shouldn't have to baby-sit the two of you!"

Talking over her, Roman placated "Ya-Ya, I know that you're angry, but we got something for you to show you how sorry we are and to make you feel better."

Here he nodded at Alexei who produced from behind his back a gigantic hot fudge sundae they had picked up on the way home just in case she reacted like this. He held it under her nose while the two boys grinned goofily at her, hoping that this would work. It didn't.

Her normally pretty face contorted violently and the boys braced themselves for the oncoming explosion.

"GET THAT BLOODY THING OUT OF MY FACE AND _DON'T_ CALL ME YA-YA!" screaming at each of them in turn. "YOU SEE! THIS IS EXACTLY WHY WE CAN'T LIVE TOGETHER! YOU NEVER WOULD HAVE BEHAVED LIKE THIS WITH MUM AND DAD! THANK GOD YOU'RE LEAVING, BECAUSE I CAN'T TAKE ANYMORE OF THIS CRAP!" having finished her tirade she turned on her heel and stormed off to her bedroom slamming the door behind her.

The quiet that followed was startling after the screeching of Anya.

Recovering his wits, Alexei had just realized what his sister had screamed at them. "Wait a minute- did she say leaving?!" Alexei exclaimed to his silent brother.

"That's what I heard." Roman said looking shocked.

The boys stared dumbfounded at each other before running to her door and pounding on it furiously.

Anya yanked the door back so quickly that they nearly punched her in the face, so intent were they on their knocking.

"What could you possibly want?!" she seethed looking terrifying with her kind hazel eyes narrowed to slits.

Bravely, Alexei stepped forward with his question, quietly asking "What did you mean leaving?"

"What?" she snapped.

"You said that you were glad we were leaving."

Anya's harsh face softened as she gazed upon her little brothers' serious faces. "Oh… I…I said that?"

The boys only nodded.

"Come on, I'll explain in the kitchen." She said softly, leading them out of the cramped hallway.

When they got there, she took the ice-cream sundae that Alexei was still holding in his left hand and placed it on their tiny breakfast table, summoning three spoons wandlessly as they all sat down.

Sitting there under the harsh glare of the hanging overhead light in their hard wooden chairs made her wish she had chosen to meet in the soft dark living room instead. She just felt too exposed in this setting. It was like she was in the interrogation room about to play a rousing game of good cop bad cop.

Especially when they stared at her like they were doing right now.

Still, she knew it would be ridiculous to change venues at this point.

No, they were going to talk about this right here, right now, no matter how upset they got or how uncomfortable she felt.

Yes, that is what she would do.

She really needed to stop stalling.

She took a bite of the ice-cream, motioning for them to eat as well. Once they were occupied with the ice-cream she said "That really wasn't the way I wanted to tell you."

Dark brown and bright green eyes snapped up to her hazel as she continued, "These past few weeks I've been thinking that, well, that things here haven't been going so well. I honestly don't think you guys are getting what you need or deserve here. You need discipline and a good teacher so you two can continue your training, neither of which are being provided here. I thought that I could handle the responsiblity but I've realized now that my version of home-schooling just isn't cutting it. So lately I've been trying to think of someway that I could fix that. In the end, the only reasonable solution that I could see was," she paused, preparing herself for their reactions, "sending you to Hogwarts."

"What?!" both boys cried in unison.

"How could you do that and not even tell us?!" Roman demanded throwing down his spoon and crossing his arms.

"First I wanted to make sure that Professor Dumbledore would even consider taking transfers, especially you two. There was no point in telling you about it if you weren't even eligible to attend."

"That doesn't matter! This is our lives you're messing with and you didn't even tell us about it! And you know how much we hate Hogwarts." Roman spat back.

"Yeah, whenever we face off against those bloody Hogwarts students at the dueling tournaments they're always some snobby little rich kid that can't duel to save his life!" burst out Alexei. "They're always relying on their daddy's to pay their way to the title." he sneered.

"I know Lex, but think about it, that's only a very small percentage of the students there. You can't judge them all by just the two or three you met at a dueling tournament. Besides, you know those things are practically a breeding ground for whiny pureblood brats with rich traditionalist fathers." Anya said patiently. "I don't think it's going to be as bad as you think it will."

"Easy for you to say, you're not being sent off to live there." muttered Roman.

"Please, just give it a chance. It's a well-known and respected school, that many wizards in this country look back on with a great deal of fondness and there has to be a good reason for that." she said hopefully.

The twins frowned.

"Fine, if you still don't like it by Christmas, I won't make you go back." she said exasperated.

"How about at the end of the first week?" bartered Alexei.

"Christmas." Anya countered firmly.

"First day of fall?" inquired Roman.

"How about Easter?" she replied feeling quite irritated by the turn the conversation had taken.

"Christmas is good!" they shouted in unison.

"Quite a fine holiday-" said Alexei

"-excellent for making big decisions." finished Roman

"Good." she said pleasantly. "Well I'm glad that we've worked everything out. Seeing as tomorrow is Saturday we should probably take advantage and get your new school supplies. It will probably take all day so we'll need to get up earlier than usual to get it all done. Good night."

She gave each of them a hug as she left the kitchen and padded quietly to her room.

"I can't believe she talked us into going to Hogwarts." Alexei muttered running a hand through his out of control hair.

"Yeah, I know. We just agreed to attend a stuffy old boarding school just for a promise that we'd only have to stay four months at the most. What kind of deal is that?" grumbled Roman face in hand and stirring the remains of the ice-cream sundae with his spoon.

"A real sucky one from my point of view."

"Well on the brightside, now we can get back at all those little gits that cheated in the dueling tournaments."

"Why of course, the pompous little brats won't know what's hit them." said Alexei grinning like a cheshire cat.


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter I own nothing but my story and my laptop.**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews! They make me so happy :)**

**Chapter 4**

The three Ivanov siblings arrived in Diagon Alley bright and early the next morning.

The place was jam-packed with witches and wizards of all shapes and sizes milling about, most of them doing last minute shopping for Hogwarts. Despite the crowded streets, everyone seemed to be in a good mood; the sun was shining, the birds were singing-

"It's six bloody AM on a bleeding Saturday, why is there already a million people running about? Shouldn't they be sleeping like normal people? I mean this is why we got up this early in the first place- to avoid the crowd!" Alexei grouched.

Okay, maybe not everyone. Alexei was a just _weensy _bit cranky; he'd never been much of a morning person.

Anya and Roman on the other hand, had always been what is known as _a morning person_, they were the kind of people that sprung out of bed as soon as the sun came up, ready to take on the day.

Alexei would much rather beat the day to a bloody pulp and crawl back into the safety of his warm, dark comforter like a bear in his den.

The siblings ignored the angry mutterings of their irritable brother, merely pulling him forward towards Gringotts while he gave death glares to anyone who dared look at him.

Luckily right around this time, one of the fan-girls decided to make herself useful and ran forward with a fresh cup of piping hot hazelnut coffee, which she handed Alexei with her face angled towards her own feet.

Alexei inhaled the rich scent deeply and thanked her for the much needed caffeine. Unfortunately this caused her to stare, awestruck at him, compeletely forgetting her ability to move.

The group stepped back awkwardly and moved around her. Once they had moved past her they turned back and found her still looking at them with a manic grin on her face.

"Oh man, that's just creepy." said Anya, completely wierded out.

"Turn around! Don't make eye contact!" he warned. "They take that as a sign of friendship and then they won't stop following us around..."

Alexei noticed nothing, totally engrossed in his coffee. He made little smacking noises of satisfaction and a lot of "mmm..." sounds that were starting to get him odd looks from passersby. There were a lot of mothers now hurrying their children far away from him.

His siblings pushed him along to the marble pillars of Gringotts and stepped inside the dark, cool interior.

They dragged Alexei all the way on up to the counters where grim-faced Goblins weighed rubies the size of grapefruits on solid gold scales.

"The Ivanov family vault, please." Anya said politely.

"Griphook!" called the teller and immediately a sullen looking goblin marched forward and commanded they follow him.

Soon they were sitting in a small cart and headed down into the depths of Gringotts.

Following their hair-raising journey to their vault they found themselves standing outside a giant steel door with no handle. It had only a small plaque that read "_Vault No. 845"._

Griphook raised a single talon-esque nail and stroked it right where one would imagine the handle should be. The door then melted out of existence and the three walked into the enormous vault, including Alexei, who was still pouting from when a harepin curve had sent his precious coffee to the bottom of a dark, barren ravine.

The screams of shock and pain that had floated up afterwards indicated that perhaps the ravine was not so barren after all.

Inside the vault, they were standing in the valley of a mountain of gold, silver, and bronze coins. Off to the side, various family heirlooms such as books and jewels were scattered about.

Most of this was inheritance from their mother's side of the family, who had come from a fairly well-to-do wizarding family and was quite rich. But quite a bit of it had come from their father's not so legal exploits during the last wizarding war.

Dimitri Ivanov had not agreed with either side of the war effort. He felt the Dark side was insane with their pure-blood mania, after all he was himself was a muggle-born; he wasn't suicidal.

The Light side was too soft, they ruled anything dark as dangerous and they refused to see the good in it.

So rather than picking a side he did not agree with, he took advantage of the situation by selling black market goods to both sides; specializing in weaponry. Being descended from members of the Russian mob, it was pretty much in his blood.

Needless to say, he made quite a lot of money in this business.

Anya, Roman, and Alexei each gathered a small pile of money in a pouch and were ready to leave.

The rest of the day was spent shopping for the boys' school supplies while Anya tried and failed to keep them out of trouble.

Alexei had talked the snakes in the pet store into insighting a riot, Roman spelled a woman's hair green with pink polka-dots and orange stripes, and Alexei ended the fiasco by daring Roman to eat a cockroach in the apothecary.

At first it had been just one of their innocent little bets, but the in the midst of swallowing it whole, Roman discovered that this one was still kicking, and began choking as the cockroach fought its' way back up his esophagus. As he rushed off to puke, he knocked over a barrel of beetle eyes, which started a domino affect and soon the entire store was crashing around them.

When the dust had cleared, everything in the apothecary had been demolished and they were standing in the middle of a sea of cat innards, newt tails, armadillo bile, doxy droppings, and so much more.

It goes without saying that the shopkeeper was furious, and the threats of death and lawsuits effectively ended their day at Diagon Alley.

Thankfully, that had been their last stop of the day so the twins went back home accompanied by their sister's angry screeching.

Two weeks later found Roman and Alexei lying around the house.

Roman was flipping channels on the television, while Alexei was being unusually studious.

"Hey Roman, come look at this." Alexei said, breaking the silence. He was hunched over at a table with a notebook and a very thick book titled _Hogwarts a History._

"What?" asked Roman as he took the seat next to his brother.

"Last night, I started wondering about the dorm situation at Hogwarts, so I started reading this book I got while we were in Diagon Alley. I just finished reading it and I've found out some interesting stuff."

"You actually read that whole thing?" Roman inquired, impressed.

"Well no, more like skimmed it."

"So, what's so interesting about some smelly old dorms?" he said looking bored.

"If you'd let me speak I'd tell you." Alexei snapped.

Roman waved his hand in a motion that clearly said "_Be my guest."_ Alexei always got cranky when he had to read for any extended period of time.

Roman couldn't really blame him.

"Ok, so I discovered that Hogwarts is split up into four main houses; Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. All students are sorted into a certain house by a judge and then they room with other people with the same house and year as them."

"So who's the judge?" inquired Roman, interested now that it had something to do with him.

"The judge is, believe it or not, a grubby old hat that sings."

"A singing hat."

"Yes. Apparently it belonged to Godric Gryffindor, the founder of Gryffindor House. It supposedly looks into the mind of the student and tells them what house they are best suited for."

"What do you mean?"

"According to this, each house has a certain qualities that they look for in their students, for instance Ravenclaw is the house for the smart kids."

"So what do the others look for?"

"Hufflepuff is for those who are hard-working and value loyalty-"

"Pssh...Next!"

Roman and Alexei put a great deal of stock in loyalty but neither could hardly be described as hard-working.

"-Gryffindor is for the brave and bold-"

"That could work."

"-and Slytherin looks for cunning and ambition."

"That's not a bad fit either."

"Of course they also have the less flattering ones too; Ravenclaws are geeks, Gryffindors are reckless and pig-headed, Hufflepuffs are cowardly and bad at magic, and Slytherin is the house of slimy prats and evil overlords."

"I'd say for us, either Gryffindor or Slytherin would fit, well except for the slimy prat part." Roman said thoughtfully. "What are the dorms like?"

"Well the Slytherin dorms are in the dungeons, which pretty much sucks ass. I mean, honestly no windows, and it's going to be cold, dark, and damp. So just basing it on the dorms themselves, I don't really want to be in there."

"Yeah, that's just about as un-sexy as it gets, cross that one off the list. What are the others like?"

"Gryffindor and Ravenclaw are both in towers, meaning a great view and a lot of open air. On the downside it also means a lot of stairs but from the looks of things, that is going to be a factor no matter where we sleep."

"Those don't sound so bad, I much prefer it to the dungeons anyway. Now, not that we'll get in there, but for the sake of covering all our bases, where is the Hufflepuff dorm?"

"Hufflepuff is really close to the kitchens, possibly making it the best dorm of all." he grinned hungrily. "I've read about the kitchens already and they pretty much will make anything your heart desires." here he gazed off dreamily and began drooling as he imagined a plate loaded with cream puffs, canolis, brownies, cake, and icecream with the classic whipped cream and cherry on top.

"You know, I think I could handle being called cowardly and bad at magic if it means getting me closer to those kitchens." said Roman licking his lips.

Their day-dreaming was cut short when Anya popped open the front door and slammed her keys in the key bowl in the hall. When she saw her two brothers sitting around a table with an enormous book between them she was shocked to say the least.

She blinked and said "Is something wrong? This is your last night here, I figured you guys would be out partying or something."

"Actually we're going to meet up with Sam at Pulse in twenty minutes." Roman replied glancing down at his watch. It was around 8:40.

Pulse was a local night club that the twins frequented. It played good music, plus the bouncers and bartenders knew them on sight so they got in without the waiting in line and they always got free drinks.

"You wanna come?" asked Alexei.

"What and get wasted with my little brothers?"

"If you want to." said Roman.

"Sure, why not? It's been a while since I've been to a good club." she answered smiling. "Hang on a sec, let me change real quick!" With that she bolted to her room and slammed the door behind her.

They could soon hear the clanking of hangers as they hit the wall behind her while she tossed unsuitable clothes over her shoulder.

Rolling their eyes, Alexei and Roman also set off to get ready, albeit more calmly and emerged from their separate rooms ten minutes later ready to go.

Roman was wearing a black button down shirt opened slightly at the top that accented his tanned skin, overtop a pair of dark jeans and sneakers. His hair was gelled back just enough to be out of his line of vision.

Alexei came out in a black slightly fitted t-shirt that showed off his muscles along with a pair of charcoal colored loose jeans and black high-tops. Unlike his brother, he had made no attempt at taming his wild hair and just let it fall freely into his eyes.

Five minutes after they began their vigil by the door, Anya strode out in a black halter dress and strappy stilettos. She was now wearing smokey eyeshadow and her black hair was falling in layers framing her face.

"Finally, come on or we're going to be late." said Roman.

They met up with their friend Sam outside of Pulse where there was already a long line of dressed-up people dying to get inside.

They walked up past the line to where the bouncers stood guard at the entrance.

A bouncer named Mike greeted them with a nod and let them pass without question, to the outrage of the many people in line.

Once inside, they stopped by the bar for a round of drinks and sat down at a table for a bit.

The music was pumping and the floor was already a mass of gyrating people.

"So tomorrow's the big day huh?" asked Sam.

"Yep, in less than twenty-four hours Roman and I will be wearing uniforms and have a nine-o'clock curfew." Alexei said dully throwing back the last of his gin.

"Then we'll have to make this night count then won't we?" said Roman smirking.


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, I do not own Harry Potter, and I'm lightyears away from being as rich as her. Life sucks don't it?**

**A/N: I'm not very happy with this chapter, but I think the next one will be better. :) **

**PS: Thanks for all the reviews, please continue, I like the feedback.**

**Chapter 5**

Alexei snorted softly and felt something feathery tickle his face.

Reaching up to scratch his face, his hand jerked back in surprise.

In his attempt to rid himself of the offending itch, he had found his face covered in long soft hair.

As far as he knew he had not decided to grow a beard, and his hair was definitely not that long.

His eyes snapped open only to close a millisecond later as he groaned in pain, clutching at his head in an effort to stop the wall of pain that was crashing over his hungover noggin.

Some godforsaken idiot had left the blinds open and now he may very well be blind for the rest of his life.

Okay, so maybe he was being a _little _over-dramatic.

He slowly opened his eyes again and found the source of the hair spread across his face.

There was a mass of golden blonde hair lying on the pillow next to his and he had a strong suspicion that there was a girl attached.

When he leaned forwards to take a peek at what was on the other side of the silky blonde mop, his hypothesis was proven correct.

It was a most definitely a girl, a very pretty looking girl in fact, and she was only half-dressed, something he could appreciate.

He guessed she was eighteen or nineteen by the looks of her and he seriously doubted she knew his real age.

He and Roman had always looked older than they actually were; a fact that came in handy quite a bit. Like last night for instance.

He tore his eyes away from the girl he could not remember and glanced over at the digital clock on his bedside table.

The neon green numbers read out 10:38 AM.

"Damn, they've stopped serving breakfast." Alexei muttered disappointed. He had been hoping to go get breakfast at the diner around the corner with his new lady friend, but now it was too late. Something else was nagging at him though, there was something important going on today, he just knew it. If only he could remember what it was…"

His thoughts were disrupted when a scream sliced through hungover fog that was pervading the apartment, simultaneously waking everyone up and sending them all into the fetal position, attempting to shield their aching heads.

"ROME, LEX! THE TRAIN LEAVES IN TWENTY MINUTES! GET OFF YOUR ARSES AND PACK!"

"Fuck!" Alexei sprang to his feet, knocking the stranger off his bed and began throwing anything and everything into the open trunk by his desk.

"Wazz goin' on?" the girl mumbled in confusion.

"Honey, I'm sure we had a lovely evening together, but I'm afraid that my brother and I have a train to catch in less than twenty minutes, and I don't have time to explain what's going on."

"Well shit, you guys better get going then!" she had picked herself up off the floor and was now stooping to pick up assorted items of clothing. "I'll see myself out." She commented heading out. "Oh and by the way," she said as she was passing him. "it was indeed _lovely_." With that she kissed him on the cheek and sauntered out, leaving him to his frantic packing.

With her gone, he could finally use magic to pack and the whole process sped up tenfold. Within seconds he had packed everything he could ever possibly want.

He had all his clothes, books, school supplies, his iPod, stereo, booze of course, and his camera.

That being finished, he rushed off to take the quickest shower he had ever taken in his entire life, and dressed in a mad frenzy; donning his over-sized black hoodie and an old pair of jeans.

Wand secured in its custom holster, he levitated his trunk wandlessly into the living room where Anya was tapping her foot and looking at her watch while Roman was downing half a bottle of Sober Sammy's Anti-Hangover Solution.

His grimace immediately disappeared and he thanked any god that would listen for Sober Sammy and his potion prowess.

"Gimme some of that." Alexei snatched bottle, which was still half-full, and drained it.

He felt instantly better and ready to face his first ever day of school.

The rush of getting packed and preparing for departure had abated and now that the flurry of excitement was gone, the silence was deafening.

"Ready?" Anya asked and the boys' knew she was referring to more than just apparating.

The boys looked at each other and Roman blankly replied "I suppose so."

"Well, lets go then" Anya said slowly.

They apparated right to platform 9 3/4 and found themselves standing before Hogwarts' famous scarlet steam engine.

The platform was near deserted and it appeared they had mere minutes before departure.

"You guys better get on the train, but first-" she grabbed the twins and forced them into a group hug "I love you two so much! I'm going to write you every chance I get and I expect you to write back!" although Anya had been all for the boys going to Hogwarts, now that the time had come for them to leave she was suffering from a little seperation anxiety.

Their family had just been cut down two members and now she was sending the other two away. She was going to be left all alone and it was all her fault.

However, she knew that this was best for everyone involved and it was because of this that she was able to let go of her baby brothers and push them towards the whistling train.

They looked at her as though lost for words until the train once again blew its' whistle and the moment broken, they ran to the moving train, trunks flying behind them.

Jumping onboard they ran to the windows and shouted their goodbyes to their teary sister as they left the station and a chapter of their lives behind.

No longer able to see their sister, they moved away from the windows and began the search for a compartment.

Wandering the long hallway, they passed numerous compartments that were filled to the brim with young, excited students.

They were getting to the point of wondering if they shouldn't just pick one and kick everyone else out, when a girl overheard their conversation.

"Excuse me?! You are not going to throw the younger students out of- are you new?" What was promising to be a full on rant by the bushy haired girl with the bossy voice, stopped midstream when the twins turned around to face her.

"Why, yes, as a matter of fact we are." Roman replied.

Her bad mood did a 180 and now her dark brown eyes shone excitedly at the thought of sharing her knowledge with new students.

However, the twins, who did not yet know what this gleam meant, where a bit frightened by this girl that they were beginning to deem psycho.

"Oh, do follow me! I'll introduce you to my friends! We can tell you all about Hogwarts and-" Bushy went on excitedly, the boys already tuning her out.

Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Alexei's hand, who was nearest, and he in turn snatched his brother's, forming an odd paper-doll chain as she dragged them off to meet her, most likely crazy, friends.

She was quite short, only coming up to the boys chins, but she was surprisingly strong and they had soon been pulled all the way to the second to last compartment on the train.

She slid open the glass door to the sight of four teens all clustered around a single chocolate frog card.

The tallest one, a red-haired boy, looked up at the Bushy and shouted "I got Agrippa!" he then noticed the two behind her and looked embarrassed, his ears stained red.

The others were now giving the girl questioning looks, to which she responded "Everyone, this is-" she had just realized she never even stopped to ask their names and she smiled sheepishly up at them revealing overly large front teeth. "Sorry, I never asked, what are your names?"

"It's alright, it all happened so fast we didn't get a chance to tell you. I'm Roman," he said pointing at himself "and this is my brother, Alexei." he finished pointing to his twin.

"They're new." Bushy added brightly. "My name is Hermione Granger, that's Ron Weasley," she pointed at the chocolate frog guy ,"Neville Longbottom," a stout, kindly looking brown haired boy, "Ginny Weasley," a small red-haired girl that was most likely Ron's sister, "and Rachael Potter." the last was a girl of medium height with dark red hair.

Everyone said hi and now that the introductions were over, the boys and Hermione sat down in the remaining seats.

The compartment was now unpleasantly full with seven teens and their luggage, one cat, two owls, and a toad. It was a relief when Ginny left to go see her boyfriend who was in another part of the train.

After she left, the inquisition began.

"So, are you two transfers or something?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, we were homeschooled until the end of the last year." Roman answered.

"What year will you be in?" questioned Ron.

"We'll be sixth years." said Alexei.

"So are we," Hermione said motioning towards Ron. "Maybe we'll be in the same house!"

"Maybe." Alexei replied, secretly hoping this was not the case. Bushy was quickly becoming irritating.

"Do either of you play quidditch?" wondered Ron.

"Sometimes, living in the middle of London made it hard to get a game together." shrugged Roman.

While Ron went off on a tangent about quidditch, Roman noticed how the Potter girl kept her hazel eyes riveted on Alexei.

It was strange, it wasn't like an appreciative kind of stare but more like she was trying to puzzle him out.

She seemed to have felt his gaze and her eyes snapped to his before looking out the window.

Yes, there was something odd about that girl.

The rest of the time flew by as the boys were regaled with stories of the teen's years at Hogwarts and their backgrounds.

So far they had learned that Ginny was indeed Ron's little sister, the youngest of the Weasley's seven children.

Rachael revealed that she too had a younger sibling, a twelve year-old brother named Josh that was starting his second year.

Hermione was the eldest, just about to turn seventeen, followed by Ron and Neville who were sixteen, and Rachael and Ginny who were both fifteen.

It also became clear that all five did not spend their time together. It seemed that Ron, Neville, and Hermione were a trio, while Rachael was only in the compartment because her best friend, Ginny, had sat down with her older brother and his friends, then left her with the group to find her boyfriend.

A shrill whistle indicated that they had arrived at the station and they all rushed to put on their robes except for Roman and Alexei who preferred their hoodies and jeans to the confining, dress-like robes.

This had earned them a disapproving glare from Hermione who as it turned out, not at all surprisingly, was a stickler for rules.

Pulling their hoods over their heads, the twins stepped out into the cold drizzle falling outside Hogsmeade Station.

They were followed by the rest of the gang who were all jabbering away about classes, quidditch, and new robes.

Roman and Alexei shared a look that said _"This is going to be a long year."_


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Anything recognizable from the Harry Potter books belongs to JKR, anything leftover belongs to me.**

**A/N: Tell me what you think. :)**

**Chapter 6**

The beginning of the ride up to Hogwarts Castle was mainly uneventful.

The twins made friends with the thestrals, earning them some odd looks from the vast majority who could not see them, and settled down into the warm, dry carriages.

They had managed to sneak away from the group, to their relief, and they were finally able to speak freely again.

"If they're all that bloody annoying, I may have to shoot them all. Obsessed with quidditch and classes and rules, staring at us with their big round eyes." Roman groaned, throwing his head back.

"You'll have to beat me to it." grumped Alexei.

"As if you could." Roman scoffed.

"Could what?"

"Beat me there. I'm way faster than you." boasted Roman.

"Ha, yeah right. I could beat you in a race anytime."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

"Alright then, I'll race you to the castle!" Without another word, he jumped from the moving carriage, landing cat-like on the hill and ran up the slope to the castle doors.

Roman followed in hot pursuit, shouting; "Lex, you bloody cheater! I'm still going to win!"

The students peered curiously from their carriages at the two running full hilt through the rain and yelling insults at each other.

When they got to the front doors, the first of the carriages had just arrived and they were neck and neck.

Now, _technically_, this is where the finish line was supposed to be, but to the Ivanov's ties just didn't cut it. You either won or you lost, and the game, whatever it may be, was not over until somebody won. So, the race continued.

The giant oaken doors had been left wide open awaiting the influx of students, so the race was brought into the castle.

They had no idea where they were going, but that did not matter; they were only worried about losing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the school had come and were seating themselves in the Great Hall.

McGonagall had just gathered all of the prospective first years into the holding room, where they would wait until the sorting.

At Dumbledore's signal, she retrieved them from the chamber and led them into the Great Hall, single-file.

As the first years entered, Dumbledore realized something was wrong, someone was missing. _Where were the Ivanovs?_ He began searching the crowd of students in a vain hope that they had merely settled at one of the house tables.

The sorting was nearing its end by the time Dumbledore had given up his search, and after it finished, he used his last ditch effort before sending out a search party.

He stood and said; "Students of Hogwarts, welcome back! I know you all must be quite famished but before we start I must announce that we have two new students joining your ranks. Their names are Alexei and Roman Ivanov." Mutterings broke out like wild fire at this and did not stop, even when he continued speaking. "Messers Ivanov if you please?"

More whispers started when no one responded to his plea.

"If Alexei and Roman Ivanov are in attendance can they please step forward so we may continue with the sorting?"

Finally there was a response, just not the one Dumbledore had been waiting for.

"They are on their way, sir. I met them on third floor and guided them here." Replied Sir Nicholas De-Mimsy Porpington, otherwise known as Nearly Headless Nick.

"Why, thank-you Sir Nicholas, your help is most appreciated."

The ghost, his duty fulfilled, nodded solemnly and placed himself amongst the Gryffindors.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, two boys burst into the hall seemingly in the midst of an argument while three people at the staff table stared in shock.

"I should have won!" one insisted.

"Uh-huh, sure." said the other smugly, inspecting his nails.

"You know it's true! If that damn poltergeist hadn't-" the giggles coming from the female population alerted the boys that they were no longer alone and they quit their bickering.

"Er, hi. Yeah, sorry we're late we had a little dispute to settle." the boy smirked at his brother.

Dumbledore quickly recovered from his surprise. "Yes, well anyhow, let us get on with the sorting. Alexei if you would do us the honor…" he trailed off gesturing towards the hat that had been left on the stool.

"Why, certainly!" the winner strode forward confidently and jammed the hat on his head, not bothering to sit on the ridiculously short stool.

"_Hmm…getting sorted quite a bit later than the rest, I see…interesting. You have qualities that would make you a good fit in any house but where do you truly belong?"_

_"Well, that's what you're here for isn't it?" _thought Alexei.

_The hat chuckled, "Yes, indeed. Now you have plenty of courage, and loyalty as well, but Hufflepuff can be ruled out... they wouldn't have a slacker like you, nor would Ravenclaw despite your high intelligence...you're as cunning as any snake, but your hot temper and recklessness can cancel it out at times...yes...I have made my decision. Enjoy your stay in_ GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat screamed the last bit aloud and Alexei left the hat on the stool and headed towards the table that was cheering loudly for him.

"Congratulations Alexei, now Roman if you please...?"

Roman stepped up to the hat only hoping to be in the same house as his brother. He wasn't prepared for the conversation that was to come.

_"So.. you are his brother in everything but blood, but you already knew that, in fact it seems that you know who he really is...what is interesting is that he does not."_

_"How-how do you know that? You didn't tell him did you?" _his mind drifted back to the train where the Potter girl had looked so curiously at his brother, did she suspect as well?

_"Why no, of course not, it is not my place-" _Roman sighed in relief_ " However, I must suggest that you do tell him...It will not remain a secret for very long I fear, and he will not appreciate being lied to by his true brother."_

_"I understand."_

_"Yes, well enough of that, I'm here to sort you and we are taking too much time already, they will start eating the silverware. Now, you are secretive and cunning as any Slytherin just like your brother, but also like him I feel your _GRYFFINDOR _heart is greater. Tread carefully, or all may be lost."_

Heart beating quickly from his conversation with the hat, Roman set off for the Gryffindor table where his brother stood waiting for him.

He performed the mandatory hand slap and grinned with Alexei who looked ecstatic that they would be in the same house, but his guilty conscience was weighing down on him. "_Would he still be happy to be sharing a room with him after he found out his real identity, and that his own brother, his twin for Christsakes, had known about it for years without telling him?"_

_XXX_

Up at the staff table, two old friends were giving each other looks of astonishment.

Remus Lupin, the returning defense teacher, and Lily Potter, the history professor, had recognized the boy known as Alexei Ivanov and could not believe their eyes.

He looked near identical to James, it was uncanny!

Both were so lost in their own thoughts that when Dumbledore announced Remus' return, he had almost forgotten to stand and Lily did not clap.

They spent their meal in near silence, only speaking when spoken to and the responses were short.

The feast now over, they rushed to Remus' private rooms, which were nearer, and started chattering about what they had seen.

"Its' unbelievable! I've never seen anyone who looked so much like him, Josh doesn't even ressemble him that much!" blurted Remus.

"I know! Which, forgive me, I know it sounds mad but...I was thinking..."

"What?" he asked warily, all too aware where this was most probably going.

"You don't think it could be Harry?" she wondered softly.

"But Lily, he's _dead_." he answered bluntly.

"I know, but it was never certain! That child could have been anyone's! I never believed it was really him, what if I was _right_?" she pleaded.

The search for Harry had only gone on for a few days, when the mutilated body of a child was found in a ditch not far from Godrics Hollow. The body had been so mangled it had been impossible to distinguish its' features beyond the tufts of black hair covering its' head.

No one wanted to examine it too much, horrific as it was and the body was laid to rest under the assumption it was the Potter's missing child. Lily had always been a firm believer that the child was not their's, if not for any reason other than disbelief that such a thing could happen to her Harry.

"Before you rule it out, just look at the facts; the boy is the same age as Harry would be, and he looks exactly like James, right down to that cocky grin of his!" she was desperate for some support.

It had been many years since her Harry had been taken from her, but she could not move on. Losing a child was not something easily forgotten, especially when there was still hope that he could be alive.

"All I ask is that you consider it." Lily finished gravely.

The werewolf sighed in defeat, "Okay. You know how I feel about it, but I will try to be objective."

The conversation now closed and the excitement dulled, Lily went back to her room where James would be waiting.

During the school year, the Potters closed up their cottage in Godrics Hollow and James lived in the private rooms the school offered her.

He should have gotten home from work by now, and they would have their traditional after-feast tea, where they would discuss the potential she had seen in the first years and whether or not Snape had been looking at her in an untoward fashion.

Usually Lily attempted to avoid the latter, which James always brought up, but she would rather talk of that than discuss what she had just seen.

James had taken Harry's disappearance just as hard as she had, maybe harder considering it was one of his best friends that had done the deed.

She would rather not get his hopes up about something that was so uncertain and if she was honest, very unlikely.

No, this was one thing that she would be keeping to herself.


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything, pretending otherwise would be ridiculous.**

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! Keep up the feedback, I need all I can get to feed my growing review addiction. :)**

**Chapter 7**

Roman had been quiet throughout dinner, something very unusual for the handsome young man who was usually full of life.

He had tried to play off his unease but Alexei, who knew him better than anyone, was not falling for it.

_'Maybe he's homesick, or he doesn't like that Anya is home alone. Come to think of it, I don't like that either.' _thought Alexei.

Whatever the reason, there was definitely something wrong, whether or not Roman wanted to share it with him.

He tried to get him out of this new and unwelcome shell during the course of the meal but it was to no avail. Despite his best attempts, Roman was still acting strangely quiet and did not interact much with the table's cheerful occupants.

Even after they left the table he was as moody as ever.

They were trailing behind the prefect that was showing all of the first years to their rooms when Alexei, finally irritated enough to say something, grabbed Roman by the hood of his jacket and pulled him backwards into an empty classroom.

"What the hell- are you trying to choke me?!" he spluttered, yanking his hood from Alexei's fist.

"No, just trying to find out what's going on." he said, his face concerned.

"What do you mean?" Roman attempted to smile but it came out as a grimace.

"Out with it, Roman. What's bugging you?" burst out Alexei, staring down his obviously nervous brother.

"Nothing." he said, but Alexei ignored it.

"Look mate, we tell each other everything, I know what you look like when you need to get something off your chest."

Roman sighed and walked to a desktop so he could sit down. "Fine. Well, you know how you said that we tell each other everything…?"

"Yes…?"

"Yeah, well, er…I haven't exactly done that." he said, fingering the pulls of his sweatshirt.

Alexei rolled his eyes; at this pace they would both be able to get senior citizen discounts before Roman got to the point.

"Rome, _whatever _it is that's got you so worked up can't be all _that _bad, just tell me what it is so we can move on with our lives."

Working up his nerve, Roman blurted, "Iknowwhoyourparentsare!"

"You-what?" said Alexei, completely lost as to the meaning of the gibberish Roman had just spewed out.

He looked him in the eye and said slowly, "I know who your parents are. Your _real_ parents."

Alexei just looked at him, green eyes round with surprise. Of all the things he had expected Roman to say, this was definitely not one of them.

"How long-?" he licked his dry lips and continued, "How long have you known?"

This was it, this was when the blame would be shifted to him. Maybe he should do it quickly like ripping off a plaster. "_Tewyrs_" he muttered quickly

"Sorry, didn't catch that." Said Alexei, his eyes narrowing at Roman.

"Two years." he ground out, preparing himself for the storm he knew was coming.

"TWO YEARS?!" exclaimed Alexei. "YOU'VE KNOWN ABOUT THIS FOR TWO _FUCKING _YEARS, AND NOW YOU SEE FIT TO TELL ME?! WHAT ELSE HAVEN'T YOU TOLD ME- DO YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER SOMEWHERE?!" he was now pacing the floor, anger and above all, disbelief coursing through him. His entire life he had wondered who he really was, who his parents were and his most trusted friend, his brother, knew and didn't tell him? If he could keep something so important from him, what else had he kept quiet?

"No, Lex, I promise this is the only thing I've kept from you- just let me explain!" he begged, his brother now refusing to look at him. "You owe me that." Alexei whirled to face him and glared at him dangerously, making him backtrack hurriedly. "Okay, you don't owe me anything, but just hear me out!"

Alexei nodded once, signaling his agreement to listen.

"Like I said, I found out about it two years ago when we were both fourteen. One night when everyone was asleep, I wandered downstairs and I overheard Mum and Dad discussing it. Actually, they were arguing about the right time to tell you. Dad said as soon as possible, Mum said when we turned sixteen. Well you know how Mum was, she could talk Dad into anything, so they were going to tell you on our sixteenth birthday. Of course, then that didn't happen seeing as they died a few months before that." he said all of this in a calm soothing voice, trying to keep Alexei 's shouting to a minimum. They did not need a teacher to interfere right now.

When Alexei spoke again he sounded hurt. "Okay, I understand why _they _didn't tell me, they didn't think I could handle it, but why didn't _you_ tell me?" his green eyes boring into Roman who was currently having a staring contest with the floor.

"I…I was afraid." Roman admitted softly.

"Afraid?"

"Yes," he answered, "I was afraid that you would leave us when you found out who they were."

"Leave? Why would I leave?" Alexei did not follow his logic there, what would be his incentive for leaving?

"Because they're alive."

"_What_?!" Alexei was stunned. They were alive? In all the times he had imagined who his parents might have been, he had never thought they would be alive. Even in his fantasies where his parents were scumbags that abandoned him on a strange doorstep, they always had a death scene not long afterwards.

"Yeah, actually you've met one of their children already."

"_Well_, who are they?!"

"Lily and James Potter."

Alexei slumped down on the old teacher's desk sending up a cloud of dust in his wake.

"Wait…I don't understand, everyone knows they lost their first child…they were so broken up at the time, why would they give me up?"

Roman just looked at Alexei, waiting for him to cotton on. Seconds later he appeared to have gotten it.

"No." he shook his head violently "No, there's no way. I'm not. That kid is _dead_, they found the body!"

Roman stood up. "Alexei, _do the math_! You were one years old when our family found you, the same age as the Potter child when he disappeared. You showed up on our doorstep the same night he was reported missing! Not to mention I saw James Potter in the paper once and you two look more like twins than the two of us ever will! Face it, you're their son. You're Harry Potter."

There was a tense silence in the dark dingy classroom while Roman watched his brother contemplate his new identity.

Nearly four minutes passed before the silence was finally broken by Alexei.

"I'm not." he said looking up. Roman looked over at him disbelievingly.

"No-" he continued "that's not what I mean. I see your point, it's too many common elements to be just coincidence. What I mean is, I'm not really their son."

Meeting Roman's confused gaze he elaborated. "I may or may not have been _born _Harry Potter, but the fact remains that I was _raised _Alexei Ivanov. Everything I know, I know because of Mum and Dad, not Lily and James. No matter what happens with them, I'm still your brother and whatever biological family crawls out of the woodwork won't change that. Got it?" he finished defiantly.

Roman only nodded, too shocked at how this had turned out to speak.

"Good, now let's try and figure out how to find our dorms, I'm exhausted." He said marching out of the dark classroom.

Roman knew that Alexei wasn't as collected about this as he was trying to appear, but he also knew that he wouldn't want to talk about it. So he followed his brother out into the quiet torch-lit corridor.

They had gotten lost a few times before they managed to stumble upon a most helpful portrait who, with a few charming smiles, was able to point them in the direction of Gryffindor tower.

Outside the tower they met another obstacle; The Fat Lady.

Looking down her nose at them, she said in her most snobby tone, "Password?"

"Erm...about that...you see we kind of got separated from the group-" started Roman.

"We're new you see-" Alexei interrupted with a smile.

"-And we got lost before we found out the password." finished Roman, matching his brother's grin.

She still looked suspicious so Alexei added, "Honest, I mean as you can see we don't even have our robes on yet!" he gestured at their casual muggle attire.

The Fat Lady huffed at this but nevertheless, she swung forward to admit them.

"Thanks, you're a doll!" yelled Roman as they stepped through the portrait hole.

When they arrived in the common room, it was just past ten-thirty and it was devoid of all human life.

Roman was amazed. "They're already asleep? What are they eighty?"

"Seriously. Well, we'll have to do something about this."

"Back to school party?" Roman inquired.

"Back to school party." He agreed. "I would suggest we throw it tonight, but if I'm honest, I'm not in the mood." he said looking apologetically at his brother.

"Yeah, we'll get it going this weekend." replied Roman walking across the empty room.

"I can't wait." spoke a voice from a corner, making them jump out of their skins.

A girl with long, wavy blonde hair came forward out of the shadows. "Sorry," she giggled "I didn't mean to scare you, my name is Sera."

"Er...Nice to meet you, I'm Alexei and this Roman." said Alexei, gesturing towards himself and his brother.

She smiled at that and said, "I know, I saw your rather marvelous entrance. I had a feeling you two would lose the welcome wagon, so I waited up so I could meet you and show you to your dorms."

"I don't know whether I should be creeped out or flattered." said Alexei, blunt as ever.

"Why are you doing this?" inquired Roman, feeling paranoid.

"You two remind me of my best friends, Fred and George. The graduated, well dropped out really, last year." her blue eyes grew remiscent for a second before snapping back to the present. "Anyways, need help finding your dorms?" she did not wait for an answer she just turned and started walking up a stone stairway to the left.

The boys followed her without question and were at the very top of the staircase before they reached a wooden door with a plaque reading "_Sixth Years_".

They turned around to thank her, but she was already halfway down the stairs and answered with a simple wave and a whispered "See you later!"

"That was odd. Helpful, but odd." said Roman staring after her.

Quietly, they entered the circular tower room that was currently filled to the brim with snoring young males.

They were quickly able to spot their assigned beds and Alexei dived into his, snuggling the comforter. "I don't know you, but I've missed you." he mumbled to the covers. He shrugged himself out of his shirt and fell straight to sleep.

Roman rolled his eyes at his overly dramatic brother and took the time to put on a pair of pajama bottoms before settling in. He climbed into bed, securing the hangings closed, reflecting on the long day he had, had. His last thought before falling asleep was, '_If all the days at Hogwarts are like this, I don't know if I'll have the energy to throw a party.'_


	9. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: Don't own any of it, please don't sue me. :)**

**A/N: Thank you all you reviewers! I love you people the most :) Keep up the feedback, I need it to know how I'm doing.**

**Chapter 8**

Bright and early the next morning, the boys of the Gryffindor Sixth Year dorm had gathered to inspect their new roomies.

Well what they could see of them that is.

The only part of Roman they could see was a foot that was poking through the opening of his bedhangings.

Alexei on the other hand, could easily be viewed because he had neglected to close his curtains the night before.

Therefore he had become the point of interest this morning.

"Is that a tattoo?" Seamus pointed towards what looked like a dragon that wound around the top of his left bicep and ended at the chest, "I've always wanted one of those. I think I'd get a Celtic cross though." he added thoughtfully.

"I think my mum would kill me if I got inked. Scratch that, I know she would." said Ron.

"Huh, she must not know about Gin's then." Dean muttered to himself. Unfortunately, in the already quiet room, it wasn't soft enough.

Ron rounded on him,"Oh really, Dean? And what would you know about that?"

"Oh calm down," Dean sighed, "it's nowhere private, it's just a butterfly on her lower back."

Seamus laughed, "Ha, your sister has a tramp stamp?!"

Apparently their talking was getting a bit loud, because it shook Alexei from his peaceful slumber.

Annoyed, he stretched out a hand and in a violent sweeping motion, magically yanked the curtains closed, effectively making them all forget about the tattoo above Ginny's arse.

_'Aah that's better...' _he thought, drifting back to sleep.

Roman, having just woken up himself, stretched and pushed one burgundy curtain open with his foot.

He could now see his new roommates making a commotion about Alexei's display of wandless magic.

You'd have thought he'd just invented fire, the way they were going on about it.

"Did you see that!" exclaimed Ron in awe.

"He wasn't even trying!" said Neville with a hint of jealousy.

Roman decided to butt in. "Oi."

The boys all turned to face him.

"What time is it?"

The tall black boy, he remembered was called Dean, looked down at his watch and said "Seven. Classes start at Eight."

"Thanks." he stood up and stretched before getting ready to tackle the Alexei problem.

The boys watched curiously as he reached into his bag for his iPod.

He picked out a song, turned it up to max volume, and pressed pause, then he placed the headphones in Alexei's ears.

"Alright, three...two...one!" he pressed play and Alexei shot out of bed, jerking the headphones out of his ears, and howling.

"Roman, you bastard! I hate you!" he growled, massaging his aching ear drums.

"Nah, you love me. Come on, get ready, it's breakfast time!" he said, heading for the showers.

Twenty-five minutes later they were following their room-mates to the Great Hall for breakfast.

"Hey Roman, how'd you get your mp3 to work at Hogwarts? asked Dean.

"Oh simple, our sister overheard Lex whining about leaving our electronics behind-"

"I was not _whining_, I was _mourning_." Alexei defended.

"Yeah," he continued, "anyway, she showed us this spell that keeps magic from interfering with the electricity."

"Really? How does it work?" Dean asked curiously.

"It puts a kind of shield around the object to protect it from the magical energy around it." answered Roman.

Hermione, who had been walking ahead of them with Ron and Neville decided to make her prescence known.

"But wouldn't that be counter-active? Wouldn't the shield itself, being made of pure magic, short-circuit the device?" she asked, standing in place so they could catch up with her.

"I'm not exactly sure, but it seems that it's such a simple spell that it doesn't give off enough magical energy to fry the batteries. It's a bit like a sunscreen to keep out harmful magic rays rather than UVB's." Roman speculated.

"I suppose that makes sense." she said, eyes shining with the light of a new puzzle that needed solving.

"How do you charge them back up?" inquired Dean.

Alexei frowned, "See, that's the problem, we don't have any way to do that yet. What we really need is a spell that actively converts magic to electricity, or allows electronics to run on magic. The problem with the latter is that it usually ends up draining the magical person using of the device."

All trying to think of ways to make this work, they sat down at the their house's table and began helping themselves to the breakfast wares.

They weren't seated for very long when the girl from last night, Sera, plopped down in front of the twins, her blonde curls flying every which-way. "Good morning!" she said grabbing the pitcher of juice.

"Morning" replied Roman, answering for both of them since Alexei was now too busy drowning himself in coffee.

"Have they passed out the schedules yet?" she asked, piling sausages on her plate.

"I believe they've just started." said Dean peering down the table where Professor McGonagall had just begun handing out little white cards.

Sure enough, moments later she had handed them all their schedules.

"Damn it, we've got potions first." groaned Neville.

"What's so bad about potions?" inquired Alexei, emerging from his morning fog.

"Snape teaches it." said Ron as if that explained everything. Which, had the twins ever had a class with Snape previously, it would, however they had not and they were just as confused as before.

"And? What's so bad about him?" Roman asked lazily.

"Snapes a grouchy git, that hates Gryffindors and favors Slytherin, he's head of Slytherin House, you see." answered Sera, "And he treats Neville like crap, because he's the Gryffindor Golden Boy."

"Hey! I am not!" objected Neville, brown eyes flashing in irritation.

It seemed as though this was not this was not the first time he had dealt with this unwanted title.

"Yes, you are." said most of the table in unison.

"Let's take a look at this shall we?" began Sera, "You never get in trouble, no matter what you do, you get private lessons with Dumbledore, parents love you, younger years flock to you, and you're always trying to be the hero! Face it Nevy you've got Golden Boy written all over your adorable little face." she said pinching his, now red, cheek.

"Leave him alone, Sera! At least he isn't always in detention, like you are!" snapped Hermione.

"Who says that's a bad thing, Mione?" grinned Sera, "I have fun, and the school makes records of my exploits for future pupils to learn from! You can't disagree with learning, can you Hermione?" she finished sweetly.

Those in hearing distance all laughed, with the exception of Hermione and Neville.

Hermione huffed, snatching a piece of toast and stamping to her first class, bushy hair swinging behind her.

She was right on time it seemed, because a moment later the five-minute bell rang.

As they were leaving, the twins fell into step with Sera, whom they had both decided was worth befriending.

"So, you and Bushy have issues?" asked Alexei.

"Oh, hi." she said looking up, "You mean Hermione?"

"Yeah, like he said, Bushy." said Roman.

She giggled, "I like that. No, we've never gotten along. She's so rule-concious it drives me bonkers! Then two years ago she made fun of my cousin, Luna, for believing in crumple-horned snorkacks, made her cry." a suprisingly dangerous look came over her sweet face. "Well, no one makes fun of my little cousin and gets away with it, not on my watch! So, I told her what's-what and burned her _Hogwart's a History_ book. We've been sworn enemies ever since." she finished smiling.

Alexei laughed, "Ha, you burned her book?"

"Not just any book, her _favorite _book." she corrected nostalgically.

"Wish I could have been there for that." said Roman. "Got a pensieve?"

Sera smirked in satisfaction, "She was furious. Of course then she told McGonagall who made me replace it, but when I explained why I had to do it, she got her first-ever detention. Then _she _was the one crying."

The threesome had just arrived outside the potions classroom that was located in the bowels of the castle.

Once inside the dank room, you could hear the water dripping from the ceiling, it was so quiet.

They had been taking their time in getting there so the rest of the class had already arrived.

The students were sitting still in their seats, facing straight ahead, and making as little noise as possible.

The reason was clear; the infamous Professor Snape was standing at his podium with class-list in hand, waiting for the last of the students to take a seat.

Professor Severus Snape World Renowned Potions Master and ex-Death Eater, did not like to wait.

Sera, Roman, and Alexei were the last to enter the room and as such the only seats left were directly in front of Snape's lecturing podium.

They sat down lazily, throwing their bags on the floor and making themselves comfortable. Once situated, they peered up at the bat-like man with looks that said "You may continue."

Oh how Snape hated children. Especially teenage children.

He gave them looks of pure disdain, before resuming his list, beginning with-

"Ivanov!" he barked

Alexei waggled his fingers.

"Ivanov!"

Roman bowed his head.

"Longbottom!"

Neville meekly raised a hand.

It went similarly on from there until-

"Walker!"

"Here!" Sera said brightly, raising her hand. "How was your summer break, Professor Snape?"

"Life-changing." he replied sounding as dour as ever.

"Really? What happened, sir? Did you discover buried treasure, find true love?" she asked hopefully.

The class snickered under their breath.

"Miss Walker, if you do not cease your inane rambling it will be detention, ten points from Gryffindor for diarrhea of the mouth." he answered silkily.

"Right-O, sir!" she saluted. "And might I add, she's a lucky woman."

Snape ignored her, but clenched the parchment in curled fists snarling, "Weasley!"

Ron raised his hand shakily and Snape slammed the list down before storming towards the board with his cloak billowing behind him.

"Only Psycho Sera would try to exchange pleasantries with the old bat." muttered Seamus Finnegan.

"_Psycho Sera_?" repeated Alexei.

"That's what they call me." she responded blithely. "I think it's meant to be an insult, but personally I like it."

Alexei smiled, "I have to say, it does have a nice ring to it."

"I want a cool nickname." pouted Roman.

"How about Rambunctious Roman." she proposed.

"Aww, how cute, it makes him sound like a puppy." Alexei cooed.

Roman frowned, "You should be Annoying Alexei, cause that's what you are."

Alexei smiled, "Oooh...good comeback, mate. You keep practicing those in front of the mirror, you're getting better."

Roman flipped him off.

Meanwhile the rest of the class had begun working on that day's potion's assignment that had been spelled onto the blackboard.

"Draught of the Living Death? Pssh...we were making that when we were ten, right Lex?"

"Damn straight. I could do it with my eyes closed." nodded Alexei.

From behind them a sneering voice positively dripping with sarcasm said, "Well then, far be it from me to hold back master brewers such as yourselves. To hone your skill in blind potion making and prevent thoughts of cheating," Snape waved his wand, "Obscura!" and black blindfolds wound themselves around their visage. "I shall provide these two blindfolds and the both of you will make this potion without the aid of sight."

He turned to face the rest of the class, "Any help given to the these two idiots will result in automatic failure, coupled with a detention of my choosing. Now, get to work!" he barked.

"Well, this is a fine mess you've gotten us into Alexei." Roman stated.

"Actually, it is." Alexei said thoughtfully, "He's basically given us leave to screw around, since he doesn't really expect us to accomplish this anyhow."

"This is quite true. On second thought, nice one mate! I would hi-five you but seeing as I can't see, that could easily become awkward."

Alexei smacked his lips, "Yeah, anywho I'm feeling a bit parched, how about you?"

XXX

Professor Snape was in the middle of perusing a very old and rare potions text, when a commotion coming from the front of the room caused him to lose focus.

It seemed that everyone had abandoned their stations in favor of lining up before the Ivanov children's work table.

"Lemonade! Two knuts a cup! Come and get it while it's cold!" shouted Roman, his blindfold having been moved so that it now resembled an eye patch.

Alexei, who had moved his blindfold to his upper lip to form a thick walrus-like moustache, was ladling a sunny yellow liquid out of their cauldron into small glasses and handing them to the line of students paying for lemonade.

Sera was counting up the coins and putting them in a tillbox that she appeared to have conjured herself.

"What is the meaning of this?!" he snarled, sweeping towards them. "Get out all of you!" he spat looking quite mad.

The class as one, grabbed their bags and glasses and high-tailed it out of the dungeons with Sera following closely behind, her money box rattling all the way up the dungeon stairs.

Now alone, with the remains of the impromptu lemonade stand, Snape downed a glass of the sugary concoction and muttered; "The psychotic Sera Walker, the infuriating Ivanov twins, know-it-all Granger, and the idiot-boy Longbottom all in the same class...if by the end of the year no-one has been killed, by my hand or no, it will have been a miracle."

Those twins were reminding him more and more of Black and Potter from his school days where they had run amok. This was further reinforced by Alexei Ivanov's disturbingly strong physical resemblence to the elder Potter.

Even worse, it looked as if they were buddying up with that Walker girl, who was irritating enough on her own.

He thew down the empty glass, shattering it.

He was going to need something stronger than lemonade.


	10. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, and this is not a chapter from her books. I borrowed some characters and changed them up for my own amusement. :)**

**A/N: Okay, it's been a loooooooooong time since I last updated. I've had so much going on with graduating and prepping for college and new jobs and crazy traveling that I haven't really had that much time available. But I'm glad to be back and hope all of you nice reviewing people are still going to read my story :)**

**Chapter 9**

Following their eviction from potions class, Alexei and Roman were leading their chattering classmates through the silent stone hallways.

Here and there a few would diverge to head off towards their classes and the pack wandered around in high spirits sipping their lemonade.

Suddenly a sharp cold voice cut through the din.

"Just had to make a show didn't you?"

Everyone stopped talking and turned to stare at the teen pushing his way to the front.

The pale blond figure of Draco Malfoy emerged from the crowd with a sneer settled firmly on his pointed features.

"Poor orphans...daddy's gone so now they have to resort to getting attention by making scenes. So sad..." he drawled maliciously.

There were gasps and whispers from the crowd at the remark and they leaned in closer to see the Ivanovs' response.

"You know, our father isn't around because he's _dead_. What's your daddy's excuse?" Roman snapped back.

The Malfoy heir's cheeks gained a bright pink flush, an involuntary admission that he had struck a nerve.

The crowd did a collective "Ooh..."

"My father has important business to attend to that often takes him away from home, it has nothing to do with family relations." he spat.

"That's not what I heard..." Roman trailed off smirking at the anger growing on the lanky blond's face.

With the assurance of a brawl between the infamous Slytherin and the new Gryffindors, no one blinked, determined as they were to see every second of the action.

They were not disappointed; Malfoy drew his wand, quick as a flash and blasted Roman into a nearby classroom.

Hermione Granger began screaming about points and the barbarity of fighting, but no one was listening.

Quick on the defense, Alexei swung his wand in a lasso-like motion and a rope of magic wound around Malfoy's neck.

He proceeded to yank him by the neck into the aforementioned classroom, slamming the door behind him and leaving the frenzied crowd outside.

There was a loud collective "Aww..." from the group as the door clicked shut and realizing their fun was over, they soon dispersed.

Inside, the fight continued.

The magic lasso dissolved just as Roman tackled Malfoy to the ground and began punching him senselessly.

"Don't...You...Ever...Do...That...Again." he grunted between punches. "Got it?"

Instead of responding, Malfoy headbutted him and used Roman's moment of confusion to gain the upper-hand.

With Malfoy punching his brother in the gut, Alexei decided the fight had gone on long enough, and blasted the two apart with the same spell that had begun the fight in the first place.

This was not the first Draco-Roman fight Alexei had witnessed and he doubted it would be the last.

From the time Alexei and Draco had first become friends at a dueling tournament, Roman had been steadfast in his dislike of Draco and the sentiment was wholly returned.

Initially Draco and Alexei had not gotten on either; Dimitri Ivanov had warned all of his children about the Malfoy family and told them to watch out for them.

But they were only seven at the first dueling tournament where they met, and like many little boys do, they got in a fight and then became best friends.

Their friendship was a secret one, as Draco's father was more than a little opinionated about the Ivanov family and would not approve of his son and only heir being friendly with wizards who lived amongst muggles.

Therefore, to keep up appearances, Draco and the Ivanovs got in little tiffs every time they met in public, something Roman was more than happy to do.

Roman, like their father was wary of the Malfoy family, including Draco.

Still, in private, they traded information and as a result were kept up-to-date on the latest Death Eater activities.

Draco groaned and held the head that he had just landed on, leaning against the cool stone wall to soothe it.

"Yeah, see how it feels! Fucking headbutting me..." Roman muttered angrily from the corner he had landed in.

"You were punching me like a madman- what was I supposed to do?" retorted Draco.

"You catapulted me into a stone wall- what was _I_ supposed to do?"

"Well, its not like I could just let you get away with that snarky little comment about my father now could I?" Ever since the day Draco and Alexei had become friends, Draco had been drifting farther and farther away from his father. His frequent exposure to the muggle world through the Ivanovs had done a great deal to change many of his old notions. Though Draco still pretended to go along with his father's ideas for his sake, he secretly disagreed and the rift grew wider with every bigoted remark his father made.

"Yeah well-" Roman spluttered. He knew it was a low blow even as he said it, but then so had Draco's comment.

Alexei, who had heard enough of this over the years and was tired of it all interrupted, "Hey!"

The two bloody and bickering teens turned to face him from their respective corners.

"Both of you were in the wrong, so let's just move on with our lives alright?" said Alexei, sounding bored.

"I'm not talking to you either, you roped me like common cattle and threw me in here by my neck!" shot Draco, looking deeply affronted at the memory of his undignified exit.

Shrugging, Alexei answered, "I'm sorry, okay? I was trying to keep up appearances."

"Yeah, I know, but you didn't have to do it like that." Draco shot back sourly.

Alexei smirked. "I know."

Although the two were friends and Malfoy had changed a lot over the years, he was still a pompous prat and Alexei still loved knocking the guy down a peg or two.

Roman snickered while Draco rolled his eyes.

The bell rang marking the end of first period, making the three boys jump out of their skins.

"Guess its time to go." Alexei said springing to his feet cheerfully while the other two pulled themselves up grimacing, their bruises already forming.

There was an oval shaped bruise blooming across Roman's forehead from where Draco had headbutted him and Draco smiled smugly before inquiring as to whether they should heal each other or not.

"I don't think so," replied Roman "the other students will need proof of the fight and we can tell the teachers we got into some sort of accident."

"Yeah, I guess so. When can we meet up again? I've got things to tell you." Draco said looking most serious.

"Er, well I guess we can meet up here until we find some place better. We'll just have to use silencing spells to ensure we're not overheard." Alexei answered thoughtfully.

"Fine. How about we meet up on Saturday night at nine?"

Alexei nodded, "Sounds good."

"Whatever." Roman replied; he was already heading for the door.

"See you Saturday." said Alexei and turned to follow his brother their next class.

Once they were back in the hallway, they headed for their next class; Defense Against the Dark Arts.

They were excited at the chance to get in some dueling practice, but unfortunately the tired looking professor informed them they would not be doing that until at least November if not later.

Instead they had done a bunch of theory and taken notes; well most of the class did, Roman and Alexei passed notes and played hangman with Sera, hoping that someday they would start covering something that they hadn't already learned before.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Remus Lupin had always been a logical man.

He took time to think things through, something that he believed separated himself from the rash violent actions of the wolf within.

So, when Lily had first approached him about keeping an eye on the Ivanov boy he knew inside he would have to prove to her rationally that this was not her son.

Unfortunately, this was not turning out quite so easy as he had hoped, for the more he watched the boy the more he felt in his gut that he was wrong.

Remus never liked gut feelings; they were animalistic and often irrational.

So he fought it.

The newly re-instated professor looked out onto his sixth year class as he droned on about the theory and practical uses of silent spell casting.

He knew that he was rambling, but all the facts were in there and he was just too distracted to be more involved today.

The distraction was currently laughing quietly at something his brother had written on his paper, and it was amazing how much they looked like James and Sirius when they were sixteen.

But that was just coincidence.

Besides, was there not a theory that everyone in the world had a twin, so to speak? Maybe this was James'.

Okay so it was far-fetched, but so was a long dead son coming back to life, and just happening to transfer into the school his mother worked at.

He glanced again at the boys and the look alike was ruffling his hair and sneaking looks at the Walker girl.

_'This does not happen in real life!'_ Remus shouted inside his own head, _'But it is, and you know it...'_ a sly voice responded.

_'Lily is going to crazy when she actually has a class with him; she'll be convinced that she's found her son._' thought Remus sadly.

He just hoped she had not told James yet; if he thought he was going to be reunited with his son and it fell through, he did not know what James would do.


	11. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Once again, I do NOT own the Harry Potter series or any of the stuff you recognize from the books, amen, hallelujah, end of story.**

**A/N- Woooooo I'm kind of excited about this chapter, its a lot different from the other ones I've written so I'm excited to see what everyone thinks so please review and let me know. :)**

**Chapter 10**

James Potter took off his auror robes and straightened his tie in the mirror.

He had finished up the Holton case faster than he had expected and now he had time for an extra long lunch at the café down the street.

Catching a final glance in the mirror, he silently thanked his wife for the lessons she had given him so many years ago in the art of wearing muggle clothing. It certainly helped him to blend in better than he had previously.

He strode confidently out of his private office and told the receptionist, Cindy, to inform any visitors he was out to lunch.

"Just as I had suspected, sir." she responded and James wondered yet again why he had been cursed with such a smart-ass secretary.

However, he gave her credit; the news being out of Lord Voldemort's return had made the Wizarding World of Britain a quite serious place and in great need of a laugh.

The fifteen year break between Voldemort's disappearance and his return had given Wizarding Britain a chance to recuperate, have children, and for many a chance to let themselves go.

For most of the newest generation, at least the light side, had not been taught proper defense methods; their parents wished them only to have the childhood that their war-torn school days under the wrath of a terrorist organization had not given them. While this was not bad in theory, it had to be balanced with lessons in defending, that a great many families never got around to doing. After all in this time of hope and prosperity, who needed to learn dueling techniques? The evil that had pervaded the world had gone and their children did not need to know of such horrors like that of which they had gone through.

However the evil had not gone, it was just carefully hidden by those who practiced it, and swept under the rug for a few gold coins when discovered.

And it was because of this very blindness that Voldemort had risen again.

James, through Order meetings and the testimonies of one Severus Snape, knew that the Dark Lord had been back for a little over a year, gathering allies and building resources.

The Wizarding World as a whole had only been aware of his return for a few months.

The Minister for Magic had made sure of that, through his Anti-Dumbledore campaign that went on throughout the previous year and prevented the news of Voldemort's return from being believable.

Although, as frustrating as this whole situation was to the members of the Order of the Phoenix, the minister's reaction was not completely unexpected. After all, the information they had on his return was scant and they had been unable to give away Snape's name as an informant, fearful as they were about losing their spy.

James considered himself lucky that he knew the truth and was as a result better suited to keep his family safe. After Harry's death, James had gone into a downward spiral; it was all his fault that Harry had died.

He stopped sleeping, barely ate, and most of his days passed him by in a haze of noise and confusion. He felt numb, and as much as that was not the way he wanted to feel, it still felt better than the unmasked pain of your best friend murdering your infant son. The only one for whom he would attempt to pull himself together for was Lily, who he knew was hurting just as much as he himself was.

_He _had convinced Lily to pick Pettigrew as their Secret-Keeper, _he _had gotten Lily to go out that night because he was so stir-crazy, and _he _had allowed Pettigrew to babysit. If he had not done these things, he told himself, Harry would still be alive and his siblings would have an older brother to look up to. The guilt was suffocating.

It was the birth of their daughter Rachael that May, that had finally snapped James out of months of depression and brought him back among the living.

The day she was born, James made a vow to her and to Lily that he would protect them from all danger and that he would never let what happened to Harry happen to Rachael.

The year after Rachael was born, Lily had gotten a job at Hogwarts as the History of Magic Professor, replacing the highly unpopular Professor Binns. This allowed the small family to move into Hogwarts during the school year and gave an added protection that helped set James' mind at ease while he was at work.

Thus, their children grew up protected and adored by the many teachers and students within the stone walls of Hogwarts Castle. Whenever he had to leave his family to go on a long mission, James got a warm glow thinking of his young children safe inside the magical fortress, learning the secret passageways and playing with the house-elves.

However, times had changed. No longer did he feel that Hogwarts was the safest place to be; Ex-Death Eater Defense teachers, school break-ins, and young Death Eaters residing within the school had made the school seem less safe than it had seemed in his youth.

In fact, many parents were pulling their children out of school and leaving the country during the currently unfavorable political climate.

Now that Voldemort had finally made his long awaited appearance, the faith that most had instilled in the Ministry and Minister Fudge himself, was gone, and the citizens were demanding his removal from office.

The Wizarding World was in upheaval and its people were running scared.

Lost in his thoughts, James' feet had led him straight to the small café without even realizing it. He took a seat at a table outside in the sunlight and ordered a sandwich and a coke. While waiting for his meal he pulled out the newspaper he had purchased that morning and shook it out to read it. The front page bore the news of the murders of the two muggles, Stanley and Martha Abbott.

James remembered there was a girl with the last name Abbott in Lily's classes and sure enough, there was a mention of the poor girl towards the end, mentioning her withdrawal from Hogwarts. He folded up his newspaper as his food arrived, but suddenly he wasn't so hungry anymore.

The situation grew worse with every day that passed and James could feel his paranoia growing with it. What if it was Rachael or Josh next? He couldn't bear the thought of losing another child to this war...if he only he could be there with them to protect them...like a bodyguard.

That was it!

He could hire a bodyguard!

Of course he would have to scope out some people and do some background checks and get the okay from Lily first, but how could she say no? It was a brilliant plan!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"No, James." Lily said firmly her eyes flashing.

James stepped back in shock, "W-what?" he answered dumbly.

"I said, no." said Lily.

James gaped like a fish, "But why?" How could she not realize what a great idea this was?

"James, love, I know that you just want to protect Josh and Rachael, but you are not hiring them bodyguards."

"I don't understand how you can be against this...it will ensure their safety!" James answered in a tone of complete disbelief.

"James, I've gone along with plenty of your ideas on safety measures for the kids, but this is going too far. I agreed to become a teacher rather than an unspeakable so that the children would be able to stay at Hogwarts, I let you force them to study defense when they could be with their friends, I let you give them necklaces enchanted to repel Death Eaters, and I agreed to forbid them from going to Hogsmeade without us, or an Order member, but we are not going to have people tailing them everywhere they go!" she took a breath and continued, more softly this time "I know you're afraid and so am I, but you have to let them grow up. Having someone constantly looking over their shoulder and treating them like fine china is not the answer. I'm sorry James." she kissed him on the cheek and left.

James slumped down into his favorite easy chair. He had been so sure that she would agree...He would just have to do it more sneakily now. There was no way he was giving up on this, no, sir. They would just have to watch from afar that's all...Now the question was...who was able to be at Hogwarts twenty-four-seven and had the skills to handle the job?


	12. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything, please don't sue me :)**

**A/N- Wow this I think this is the longest chapter I have ever written...mostly because I was having fun writing it. Okay, I do not speak a word of Russian, much as I wish I could and seeing as I didn't wish to utterly destroy the language using babelfish, I just decided to write in English with bold and italics to mark the transition. If any of you glorious readers out there are fluent in Russian and would like to translate for me, that would be great but unless that happens, this is how any Russian will be typed. Also, I am saddened by my lack of reviews because it _really _helps me to get some feedback. Not to whine, but my last chapter only got one review. So EmeraldGreyClouds, I thank you for being the only person out of the 300 people to read that chapter to give me a review (and yes, you were right :)). I really want to know what you guys think- good, bad, or indifferent- critiques make for a better and more informed writer, so _please _hit that magical blue link at the bottom and review! :)**

**Chapter 11**

The rest of Roman and Alexei's school week passed by in a haze of boredom and a growing popularity among the students. They had more classes with Snape who had apparently decided to ignore them rather than provoke another disruption like that which had occurred in their first class, were introduced to astronomy, excelled in charms, met the very strict Professor McGonagall, and they had also had their first class with Professor Potter, which had been a very difficult class for Alexei.

Knowing that his biological mother was standing right in front of him, very much alive and unaware of her son's presence had been beyond strange. He spent much of the class studying her features and watching her expressions, recognizing a few of them as ones he shared with her just as they shared the same unique emerald green eyes.

And maybe it was his imagination but every time he locked eyes with the red-haired History Professor, there was this odd gleam there showing something like suspicion. Did she know that she was in the same room as her eldest son? If she did, why didn't she say anything?

For these curious glances continued in all of the classes that he had with her, but never did she ask to speak on him or even call on him to answer a question. Brooding on these thoughts as he left the History of Magic classroom, he was startled when a hand came down in front of his face.

Roman was waving at him, trying to get his attention. "Oi! Lex! Anybody home...?"

"Huh- Oh, yeah. Sorry, what were you saying?" said Alexei, shaking the thoughts from his head.

Roman rolled his eyes and muttered "You are such a space cadet." then he repeated, "I was _saying_, that we need to find out where the kitchens are so we can get some food for the party tonight."

"Oh! Right..." It was Friday, he had forgotten.

"What's up with you, you're acting strange...?" said Roman, concerned.

Alexei ran a hand through his hair wearily, "Nothing. I think I might have left my brain in that last class..." Roman wanted to say something to comfort him but realized he really couldn't in their present company and settled for looking sympathetic.

Sera cut the tension by asking slyly if he had a crush on Professor Potter, triggering vehement "No!"s and faces of disgust.

"Whoa! It was just a joke guys, calm down!" she said holding her hands up defensively in front of herself, "Oh and I was going to tell you that I can show you how to get into the kitchens, it's really easy."

Distracted from the disgusting question, Roman's face cleared, "Oh, that makes things simpler. I guess we'll go after dinner then."

Alexei nodded.

"This is going to be so wicked!" exclaimed Sera. There was an extra bounce in her step as they walked into the Great Hall, due to her excitement. "The only time we ever really have parties is after we win at quidditch, which I have to admit, isn't all that often." she said disappointment at Gryffindor's recently abysmal quidditch stats flooding her tone.

As they sat down at the Gryffindor table, Alexei turned to her in surprise, "I didn't know you were into quidditch?"

"Well, I'm not really," said Sera, "but I still want Gryffindor to win and the fact that Slytherin is the one consecutively beating us for the cup is really frustrating."

"Hey, Lex, maybe you should join." grinned Roman.

"You play?" Sera asked Alexei, who nodded. "Are you any good?"

"He's excellent." Roman boasted.

"Well you're definitely trying out then."

"Don't I get a say in this?" Alexei questioned plaintively.

"No." they both answered with a tone of finality.

"_Well._" Alexei huffed, taking a bite of his pork chop. They could tell he was faking though.

Roman turned to look at him and said cajolingly, "Oh come on Lex, you would enjoy it!"

Alexei stared at him disbelievingly, "You just want show up Malfoy, you know he plays quidditch for Slytherin."

Knowing he'd been caught out, Roman just answered "So." and shoved a mouthful of potato in his mouth.

Once dinner was over, Sera led Roman and Alexei down a hallway just off of the Great Hall and stopped at the very end of the corridor in front of a very large oil painting of a bowl of fruit. She reached up to tickle the pear, which giggled slightly, and the giant painting swung forward to reveal a round doorway leading into the kitchens.

The Ivanovs' felt as though all of their wildest dreams had come true, as tiny bat-like elves ran to prepare every food they could think of for the party. They were in and out in a matter of minutes, their arms laden with bowls of popcorn and nuts, boxes of pizzas, assorted crisps and dips, biscuits, and crispy mozzerella sticks. Stuffed in their schoolbags were bottles of beer and large amber bottles of firewhisky that clanked together when they walked.

Roman, realizing their fairly big oversight said "Now, how exactly are we going to get all of this back to the common room without being noticed."

"Sera just smirked and replied "Follow me."

She took them through several secret passageways that wound through tapestries, mirrors, and even through what at first appeared to be solid wall. Exiting the last one, they found themselves directly in front of the Fat Lady, who snorted at them with one eyebrow raised. "I suppose I won't be getting any sleep tonight, will I?"

"Intrepidity." said Sera causing the Fat Lady to swing forward on her hinges. "And don't worry, you can always sleep it off tomorrow." she added.

The common room was filled to the brim with students of all ages, talking, fighting, playing chess and doing homework. None of them noticed the three come in.

"Alright everybody, gather round!" Alexei shouted. "There's about to be a party in the common room! If you don't want to have any fun, or you are younger than fifth year, head on upstairs and study or whatever it is you people do."

There were shouts of "Not fair!" from the younger years, while the older students looked vaguely excited.

"Also," Roman began "if anyone has any music they want to be played-"

"Within reason!" interrupted Alexei. He did _not _want to listen to the musical stylings of Celestina Warbeck.

"-Come talk to us!" finished Roman.

Hermione, who had been frozen in shock and anger strode forward, her polished prefects badge shining brightly on her chest. "You will not!" she shouted, "If you even try, I'm going to report you immediately to Professor McGonagall!"

Roman stepped in putting an arm around her, "Whoa there, Hermione! Don't do that, come on, join the fun!"

"You'll have a great time, we promise!" added Alexei, putting his arm around her on the other side.

Hermione just scowled more fiercely.

"Oh Hermione..." Sera drawled sweetly.

"What do you want Walker?" she snapped.

"I was just thinking about how you wanted to borrow my rare, limited edition copy of '_Omnicious' Guide to Defending the Mind_', and I was thinking that if you let this slide, I would be willing to lend it to you, no strings attached." she smiled charmingly.

Her expression changed so quickly and entirely that it was frightening, "Really?"

"Definitely." the blond promised.

"Well..." she glanced around at the hopeful students surrounding her, "Okay."

The common room erupted in cheers and everyone began placing the food on tables and moving chairs away from the middle of the floor to set up a kind of dance floor. Roman ran up to the dorm to bring down his shrunken stereo and a huge stack of CD's. Alexei began shooing the younger students up to their dorms, who groaned such things as "Aww...why can't we stay?" and "But it's only 7:30!"

Alexei cheerfully consoled them as he pushed them onward, "Oh, that's okay! That just means you'll be more refreshed tomorrow! You'll have the whole Saturday rather than sleeping in!"

They still grumbled under their breaths but nevertheless they went up with out a fight.

As he made his way back down the staircase he heard the blast of the stereo starting up and when he arrived at the bottom, students were already dancing to the beat.

He met Roman by one of the food tables and was handed a beer. "Cheers!" he said happily.

Alexei sipped his beer and looked out on the dance floor to spy Hermione dancing with their roommate Ron, who kept throwing glares at Ginny and Dean's hyper-sexual dancing style. "So, are they an item then?"

"I think so, although I didn't actually expect her to stay. I'm glad she did though." Alexei raised an eyebrow at his brother, who quickly came to the defense, "That's not what I mean, I just think she needs to loosen up some." he took another swig of his beer.

"If you say so..." Alexei teased as he walked away.

Roman watched him as he pulled Sera away from the punch bowl and out into the middle of the throng to dance. _"I can't believe he was teasing me about having a crush, it's so obvious he's got a thing for Sera." _he though smiling. He was pulled from his thoughts by a small voice at his shoulder saying "Hi."

He looked over to see a mop of dark red hair that glinted in the dim firelight; the Potter girl. "Oh, hey. Why aren't you out dancing?"

"I could ask the same of you. Your brother sure is into it." she said staring at Alexei and Sera who seemed to be competing with Ginny and Dean for the title of most sexual dance moves.

"Well I didn't really have anyone to ask, until now. You wanna dance milady?" he held out a hand and gave her a small bow.

She hesitated slightly before stammering "B-but, I-I don't really _know _how to dance." her cheeks flushed in embarrassment at the admission.

"Aww...don't worry about that-" he grinned "I'll teach you!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her out to the middle of the mob with her protesting all the way.

She shoved him off and hissed "I can't!"

"It's alright...Come on, just feel the music...let your body move to the beat and _don't worry_ about what you look like. No one's watching anyway." he said as he himself began to move to the music.

She still stood there looking at him unconvinced, the worry written clearly upon her face. "I don't know..."

"Look don't worry about anyone else, not even me...just feel it." he smiled encouragingly.

It took another moment but she closed her eyes and soon began to sway and bounce on the balls of her feet to the beat of the music. When she opened them again, Roman was dancing with her and she started dancing in earnest.

After hours of dancing, many of the crowd were lounged on rugs and couches some making out, others passed out from exhaustion, and a few sipping beers and eating crisps.

Alexei, noticing the dwindling enthusiasm shouted over the music "Hey everybody, how about a drinking game?"

There was a good response so he led a group over to one of the empty round tables and arranged a pack of cards in a circle around the table while Roman came over with a case of beer and plunked it down in the center.

"Okay, the game kiddies, is called Circle of Death." announced Roman. "The rules are simple; we go around in a circle and when it's your turn you pick a card. If you draw a two, that's _You_ so you pick a friend who has to drink every time that you do, three is _Me_, meaning you have to drink, four is _Floor_, everyone has to slap the table and the last person to slap the table has to finish their drink, five is _Guys_, all the blokes take a drink, six is _Chicks_, all the ladies take a drink, seven is _Heaven_, just like four except you point up, eight is _Mate_, you pick a special someone you think is sexy to drink with you, nine is Rhyme, the person who draws says a word and everyone has to rhyme with that word and whoever doesn't has to finish their drink, ten is _Category_, the person will pick a category and everyone has to say something in that category or finish their drink, jack is _Never Have I Ever_, so the person has to list things they have not done and everyone at the table who has done that has to raise a finger, once you reach three you have to drink the rest of your drink, queen is _Question Master,_ everyone goes around in a circle asking random questions until someone can't think of an answer and then they have to drink, king is _Rule_, so you have to make up a rule for everyone to follow until a new rule is made and if anyone breaks it they have to drink, and finally ace is _Waterfall_, so whoever draws it starts drinking and the person beside them starts drinking and the person beside them and so on and they can't stop until the person beside them stops drinking. Whew, Any questions?"

The table, which consisted of Alexei, Sera, Dean, Ginny, Rachael, Hermione, Ron, and Neville all, barring Alexei, stared at him blankly.

Alexei saw their faces and said "Don't worry, if you're confused we'll explain as we play."

Roman rubbed his hands together and asked smiling wickedly, "Ok, who's first?"

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By the end of the game everyone was quite drunk; Neville had actually fallen asleep at the table, Hermione was practically sitting on Ron's lap, who grinned stupidly, Alexei kept whispering things into Sera's ear, making her squeal with laughter, Ginny was leaning on Dean, who had a beer label stuck to his forehead, and Roman had begun chucking cards at Rachael's head, who had just laughed at him for slopping beer down his front.

After a while they all wandered off to find a place to sleep, some not even managing to find a couch, just sprawling out on a soft rug. The all drifted off to sleep, the alcohol putting them out like a light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Professor McGonagall was striding up to the Divination tower to have a few strong words with a certain Sybill Trelawney about predicting one of her newest students' death by decapitation, when she heard a dull thumping noise.

Diverted from her mission she followed the noise up to the Fat Lady's portrait, who appeared utterly woebegone. "Please, make it stop...My ears are bleeding from the noise." she wailed.

"Intrepidity?" McGonagall said, the password coming out as a question.

The portrait slowly swung open to reveal a scene of utter devastation. Dozens of her little Lions were lying prostrate on the floor, slumped over couches, and asleep at tables. Around them were bottles upon bottles of beer, what looked to be two empty bottles of firewhisky, and all varieties of food covered the floor. In the corner a large black stereo beat out a loud tune. She flicked her wand at it to cut it off.

What had happened? And why had Hermione Granger informed her of this? Her first question was answered instantly, while several others were raised as she caught sight of Ms. Granger hanging off of a chair.

Furious, she held her wand up to her throat and whispered _"Sonorus_" then she yelled, **"WAKE UP!" **There were many soft thuds as students were startled from their sleep and fell off their precarious perches. **"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" **

A hand was raised slightly and she found it to belong to Alexei Ivanov, who answered sleepily, "We-er...threw a party..."

**"REALLY, DID YOU NOW? AND WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD GO AROUND GETTING YOUR CLASSMATES DRUNK AND MAKING A HUGE MESS?"**

"No-one, we were just trying to have a little fun..." he muttered clutching his head, as were many others.

**"WELL I HOPE YOU HAVE FUN IN DETENTION BECAUSE YOU'LL BE IN IT FOR A WEEK!"**

Roman raised his hand, his head popping up from behind an overturned couch, "It wasn't just him, Professor, I started it too" he mumbled.

"And me..." said Sera, waving her hand as well.

**"WELL THEN YOU WILL JOIN HIM! AND AS ADDITIONAL PUNISHMENT NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO USE ANY TYPE OF HANGOVER POTION! YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT!"** she undid the _Sonorus_ spell and said "_Accio_ hangover potions!" a surprising number flew into her hands and she vanished them all.

The room groaned as one as they disappeared.

Furious with the lot of them, she spun on her heel shouting "AND CLEAN THIS UP!" and left, slamming the portrait behind her causing the room to shake from the force and fresh moans from those on the floor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a long morning cleaning up all of the mess, everyone was grumpy and short-tempered from their hangovers, quite a few, including Hermione and Neville frequently rushing off to the loo to puke.

Once they were finished they all headed down to breakfast to get some food in their squirming stomachs.

Alexei and Roman were wearing sunglasses to shield their tender eyes from the bright morning sun and it was lucky they were, because they just happened to run into Auror Potter. Who immediately went into an explanation of who he was and how he wanted them to watch his children.

"You want us to do what, exactly?" Alexei asked in disbelief; his hungover brain just couldn't handle this right now. He could have sworn James Potter, his long-lost father, had just come up to him completely out of the blue, introduced himself, and requested that he and his brother become top-secret bodyguards for his two children. This had to be one of the strangest and most awkward moments he could ever remember having, including the time that he had been on a date and one of the more unruly fan-girls had barged into the restaurant to declare her undying love for him and their future children.

The whole situation was made even more odd by the realization of just how much Alexei looked like his father. Sure he had seen snapshots of him in the paper, but the pictures did not quite prepare him for the older doppelganger standing before him. He was all of a sudden very glad that he was wearing the sunglasses.

Beside him, he could feel his brother warring against a mixture of shock and ironic amusement to keep a straight face. Giving up the battle, he asked, "Er…are you sure we're the right men for the job, sir? How much do you even know about us?" Alexei could hear the laughter in his tone, but he doubted that Potter could.

"Well, you see…" he paused, looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was listening, then continued "I've been hunting around for someone that is around the school and could do the job…" his eyes darted again, "Professor Lupin told me that the two of you aced the review quiz he gave the first day, and each made an Outstanding on your defense homework. After that, I looked you guys up and found out your history with dueling and seeing as you are both Gryffindors it would be easy enough to watch them. Oh and you would also be paid of course." He finished with an air of confidence that strongly implied that they would be fools not to take him up on the offer.

The boys glanced at each other and Alexei turned to James and said "Give us a minute." before they walked a short distance, turned away from him, and began speaking in rapid Russian.

Roman spoke first, his dark eyes wide from the conversation they had just had,**_ "What do you think?"_**

Alexei looked thoughtfully back at him and when he spoke it was in a slow, unsure tone, **_"I don't know...I can't believe I am saying this, but I'm actually kind of tempted to accept..." _**Maybe he could learn more about his siblings, possible even become friends with them.**_ "What about you?"_**

**_"I'm up for it if you are."_**said Roman, determined to stick by his brother no matter what his decision was. **_"So is that it? Are we really doing this?"_**

_**"Yeah. Yeah, we are."**_ Alexei responded firmly, nodding his head.

**_"This is so bizarre."_ **Roman added blankly._  
_

_"**Tell me about it." **_muttered Alexei._**  
**_

They walked back over to Potter, who was looking anxious to hear their answer.

Alexei held out his hand and said "We'll do it."


	13. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Don't own a single bit of it. Nada. Zilch. Zero.**

**A/N: Hey everybody, just finished the twelfth chapter (technically thirteenth, but whatever.)! Now that I've finally gotten a lot of the introduction stuff out of the way, the real story is now beginning... So please enjoy, and don't forget to review!**

**P.S.- Much thanks to Emeraldgreyclouds, cascol3, RRW, jmeec316, and DarthGreave for reviewing, feedback is oh so lovely. :)  
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**Chapter 12**

After verbally agreeing to watch over the two children, James, Roman, and Alexei set about writing an informal contract.

They were now responsible for watching out for a Ms. Rachael Lillian Potter and a Mr. Joshua David Potter whenever possible, i.e. anytime they were not in classes, in detention, taking bathroom breaks, in hospital, or otherwise indisposed. The children in question and their mother were not to be informed of this arrangement, unless circumstances should arise to make this necessary. In the case of emergency, they were to send a patronus to James to relay the message, and call in whatever forces available, while holding off the potential danger. For their services, they would be paid twenty galleons per week, each. Should the boys for any reason fall in the line of duty, their employment would be henceforth terminated. In addition, if James did not pay the service fees previously stated, or released them without just cause, the Ivanovs' would be granted one thousand galleons each in addition to any other monies owed, and the contract would become null and void.

All satisfied with the wording of the contract, they each signed their full names at the bottom, shook hands, and parted ways.

The boys headed for breakfast, discussing their new obligations.

_**"By the way, how exactly are we going to watch them without them knowing we're doing so?"**_ mused Roman, **_"I don't want to dart about in the shadows like some bloody bat."_**

Alexei laughed, _**"Yeah, I think that acting like Batman might actually draw more attention to us. I think we should just try befriending them...that way we'll be with them but it won't be too suspicious."**_

Roman frowned, _**"Isn't that a little dishonest though? Pretending to be their friends so we can make a couple of galleons?"**_

_**"The whole thing is dishonest, Rome. At least I'll get to know a bit about my biological family while I'm at it..."**_

Roman got a weird look on his face, _**"Yeah, I suppose..."**_ he said.

The conversation dropped as they neared the table. Every time in the past that they had revealed their knowledge of the Russian language, it always ended up being the same thing; people oohing and asking them to _say _something in Russian. And right now they were not in the mood to play along.

Having decided to get to work building a rapport as soon as possible, Alexei had chosen seats directly in front of Rachael Potter, who was currently sleeping on the table, her breakfast forgotten. Around her were Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Dean all in various states of cranky lethargy.

Alexei, noticed they were missing someone. "Where's Sera?"

Hermione spoke up sounding indifferent, "She's in the dorms sleeping, said something about disturbing her at our own risks." Alexei nodded in understanding.

Moving on, he leaned across the table and poked the snoozing redhead lightly. "Oi, Wake up."

Rachael picked her head up slowly, her hazel eyes bloodshot and face pale. Adding to the lovely picture were the bits of scrambled egg that had attached itself to the ends of her dark red hair. "What could you possibly want?" she snarled.

Roman grinned "You're starting to sound like Lex, here." he glanced at Alexei before stage-whispering, "He's not a morning person either." he shook his head sadly. Alexei rolled his eyes.

Rachael looked annoyed. "It's not that I'm not a _morning person_, it's that the two cheery idiots in front of me won't just let me be, when it's their fault that I'm feeling like crap in the first place!" she snapped. Standing up wearily she sighed, "I'm going back to bed..."

"Wait!" called out Alexei. She spun sharply to face them. "You're better off staying here and eating something, it will go away quicker that way." he told her.

She huffed but seeing a few of her classmates nod at the truth in that statement, she sat back down heavily and tentatively poked her fork at an egg.

Tucking into his own eggs, Alexei suddenly became aware of a weight pressing down on his head and sharp talons digging into his hair. "Hullo, Rasputin." He sighed dully.

The large, black eagle owl screeched sharply in response, dropping an envelope onto Alexei's plate.

"Er…Alexei?" questioned a tired-looking Hermione.

"Yes?" he looked up from the letter briefly, to find the rest of the table staring at either him or the owl, except for Roman, who was snickering up at the bedraggled looking bird.

"Why is there a giant old owl sitting on your head?"

Roman stopped laughing long enough to explain, "This is the family owl, Rasputin, for some reason he _always_ lands on Lex's head. Personally, I think it's because his hair actually looks like a bird's nest-"

"Oh, shut up Mr. My-Hair-Is-So-Perfect-All-The-Time." Roman had always thought that Rasputin's affinity for landing on Alexei's head was hilarious. _"Which it wasn't!" _thought Alexei._  
_

"Ooh…jealous?" teased Roman.

Alexei huffed in annoyance, "_No_."

Dean interrupted, "Er…sorry, but why did you name him Rasputin?"

Alexei turned away from Roman to explain, "Dad named him. When Mum bought Rasputin he was being bullied by the other owls in his cage, and he was pretty banged up-"

"-Looked like he'd been through a war." said Roman through a mouthful of bacon.

"Dad always had a fairly eccentric sense of humor, he named him Rasputin as a joke." Alexei smiled fondly in remembrance.

A voice colored by confusion interrupted their reminiscing. "I don't get it."

Hermione threw her hands up in exasperation, "Oh, honestly Ronald! Did you _never _pay attention in History of Magic?"

His face said it all.

"Grigori Rasputin was a very famous wizard who watched over the royal family of Russia, under the guise of being a spiritual leader. When the royal family was assassinated, the muggles attempted to kill Rasputin as well, and he was poisoned, shot four times, badly beaten, and tossed into a river after they thought he was dead. But the autopsy reported that he had only died of drowning. Although some say he still survived because he was said to have sat up in the fire while they were cremating him."

Ron's face shined with awe. "Wicked." he breathed.

Alexei had stopped listening while Hermione had explained the story of Rasputin and was instead reading the letter their decrepit owl had brought.

_Dear Boys,_

_It's unbelievable how quiet the flat is without you guys here! I can't believe that I am saying this but- I think _

_I'm actually starting to miss all of the madness you guys bring to the house! I haven't gotten a single letter from_

_the school yet, which I have to say is pretty impressive...I didn't think you guys could stay out of trouble for that_

_long. Guess, I underestimated you two. :) Anyway, I just wanted to see how you're both doing, and I want to hear_

_back from you as soon as possible. Hope you're having an awesome first week!_

_Love you, and Miss you,_

_Anya_

Alexei smiled and passed the letter to Roman who read through it quickly, snorting at the bit about staying out of trouble, with a smile growing on his face to match Alexei's. "Suppose she's going to be disappointed when she finds out about our latest infraction."

"Ah well," Alexei sighed, putting the letter in the pocket of his jeans, "We can't make life too easy for her now, can we?"

A loud screech reminded him that Rasputin was still perching on his head, which was, by this point, attracting quite a few odd stares. "Rasputin, can you go to the owlery? We'll send you back with a letter later on today."

The owl responded by yanking a lock of his hair in what it seemed to think was affection, and flew off to the owlery.

"What a weird looking owl." commented a smallish young boy who had just sidled up to the table. He had black hair and hazel eyes that were framed in a pair of square spectacles.

"That's _our _weird looking owl." Roman shot back proudly. Alexei nodded his support.

Rachael smiled in a pained sort of way, "You'll have to excuse my brother, Josh, he doesn't have much of a filter." she said, patting her little brother on the head in a condescending sort of way.

Josh shook his sister's hand off and turned to glare at his sister when his face morphed into an expression of shock, "Whoa sis, you look like crap! What happened to you?"

"You see what I mean?" she grumbled shortly, stabbing her eggs with renewed vigor.

Alexei laughed and announced "Alexei and Roman Ivanov, at your service." as he and Roman took turns shaking the boy's hand.

"Nice to meet you." responded Josh politely before turning back to Rachael. "I was going to ask you if you and your friends wanted to play quidditch later, I wanted to get in some practice for trying out for the team. But since you look like you got hit by a bus, I guess not..." he trailed off, catching sight of his sister's angry face.

"Maybe later _Josh_." she bit out. Ginny giggled at her best friend's irritation, earning herself a glare as well. "What?" she asked, knowing perfectly well _what_.

"Don't worry Rachael, I know how it feels to have annoying younger siblings." voiced Ron.

"Hey!" cried Ginny and Josh simultaneously.

Ginny turned to him, her chin raised in defiance "Well Josh, if your own sister won't help you practice, I will."

"Thanks, Gin." he answered grinning.

"No problem, us younger siblings have to stick together. I'll meet you on the pitch with a few others around 10:30 alright?"

"Okay, see you there!" with that he ran off to the other end of the table where his year-mates were waving at him.

"Anybody else want to play a game?" Ginny offered gazing upon each of them in turn. Hermione instantly begged off for studying, Ron, Dean, and Rachael all agreed to come. Everyone turned to Roman and Alexei, waiting for their response.

"Sure, why not." shrugged Roman and Alexei grinned excitedly.

"Good, I'll see you all around 10:30 at the pitch," she said picking up her books and walking off, calling over her shoulder, "I've got to go see a man about a niffler!"

Rachael ran after her spilling more egg, in her haste to find out what her best friend was up to.

Everyone watched her go, then turned to Dean expectantly.

"What?" he said biting into a scone. "I'm not going to pry, she'd bat-bogey me again!" he shuddered, recalling the last time that had happened.

Breakfast dissolved pretty quickly after that, everyone going their separate ways before meeting back up for quidditch.

As the clock struck half-past ten, a large group of students gathered on the windswept quidditch pitch.

Josh stood before a collection of second and third year students all holding brooms and wearing fierce expressions. Well, as fierce as twelve and thirteen year-olds can look that is.

The older students clutched their brooms, seemingly amused by the younger students' attitude.

Josh's voice rang out surprisingly strong, calling out "Who will be the captain's?"

"Me." answered Ginny.

"And me." said Katie Bell, Gryffindor's new captain. Josh, who had not seen her standing there, gulped at the pressure of practicing in front of the person who would decide whether or not he would make the team.

The girls did a quick rock, paper, scissors for first pick. Ginny won, so she yelled out "Josh!" Josh strode forward smiling nervously, but gave the offered high-five anyway.

"Ron!"

"Dean!"

So it continued until each team had a total of seven players. Ginny's team consisted of herself, Josh, Rachael, Dean, Geoffrey Hooper, Nate Baxter, and Tad Clifford. Rachael, Ginny, and Dean would be chasers, Josh would be seeker, Nate and Tad beaters, and Geoffrey keeper.

Katie's was herself, Roman, and Alexei as chasers, Megan Jones, and Reggie Martin as beaters, Ron as keeper, and the tiny Demelza Robbins as seeker.

Hermione, who was there with her stack of books signalled the start of the game and was going to, supposing she actually watched the game, act as referee.

On the count of three, everyone shot up into the air and at once Ginny had possession of the quaffle. She streaked down the field with the red ball under her arm, passing it to Dean, who passed it to Rachael, who passed it to Ginny again. Alexei had to admit they worked well together, but not for long. Reggie sent a bludger careening towards Ginny who lost focus and threw a rather weak pass that fell right into the waiting arms of Roman who was sweeping under her.

Roman shot it to Alexei, who shot it to Katie, who shot and...scored!

There was a round of cheers from Team Katie, while Dean took the ball from Geoffrey and set off for the other end.

The aerial battle continued on from there, becoming increasingly more rough; players being whacked by other player's broom tails, ramming, and vicious bludgers. Hermione, the referee, had not noticed any of this as she was deeply engrossed in an arithmancy textbook.

Meanwhile, Ginny's team was getting tired. Her team had the most younger students on it, and they were unused to such long games, not to mention all of the roughhousing going on. Ginny's time was split between chasing and watching out for the weary younger ones, who refused to give up, no matter how tired they were and their team's performance suffered for it.

Alexei and Roman had stopped taking the game so seriously, and were doing loops and making steep dives to see who would pull up first. This frustrated Katie to no end, but she also recognized the talent displayed by the two brothers and knew she would have to ask them to try out. Hopefully they were like Fred and George had been, messing around during practice, but treating official games like battles. Besides, they were winning anyway.

Another ten minutes later and Josh had caught the snitch, winning the game for Team Ginny. The young students on the team looked tired, yet smug as they weakly hi-fived each other.

Katie asked Roman and Alexei to try out next Saturday, and they responded that they would keep it in mind but did not know if they would have the time.

Alexei and Roman were worried that Mr. Potter would not appreciate them constantly taking the time away from guarding his children to play a game of quidditch. Glancing down at his watch, Roman saw that it was nearly dinner time, so they all headed off to go shower before dinner.

* * *

At nine-o'clock Roman and Alexei found the classroom they were supposed to meet Draco in and stepped inside.

Draco was already there, pacing the room as he waited. Hearing them enter, his head snapped up and he rushed to set up privacy wards. When he was done, he turned to face the brothers, who's joviality had died at the look on Draco's face.

His face was all business and as soon as he had seated himself he started talking. "I'm sure that you both noticed I haven't been as much contact with the two of you this past summer, correct?" Both boys nodded. "The reason for that, is that just before I got home from school last semester, the Dark Lord took up residence in our manor." he said gravely.

Roman and Alexei's faces changed to that of horrible shock "What?" they yelled.

"Yes." replied Draco, his face grim. "And that's not nearly the half of it."

Alexei and Roman exchanged quick glances and Draco continued, "This summer has been the worst summer of my life. I spent the whole of it terrified of the beast that lived in my own house, my _home_. He lorded over us and took advantage of our fear, making us do things..." Draco's eyes were far away by this point, reliving some horrible memory. "He invited Death Eaters into our homes and werewolves like Greyback." There was a collective shudder at the name. "But as scared as I was, I had to find out what they were meeting about, I was so curious...I spied on a few of their meetings and found out quite a bit of information." He smirked. "But the last one, I was caught...and tortured by my own..." Draco swallowed heavily unable to finish the sentence, but the boys knew who had been the torturer. Draco's face grew strong again and he continued smugly "The information though, the information was more than worth it. They were speaking of choosing the new recruits." he smiled sneakily.

Alexei's curiosity was peaked. "Who are they?" he asked.

"Crabbe, Goyle, Parkinson, Nott, Pucey, Bletchley, myself" he spat in disgust. "and most of all, the two of you."

"Are you serious, right now? Voldemort, wishes to recruit us as Junior Death Eaters. You've got to be joking."

"Not, 'Junior' Death Eaters, full on Death Eaters. Masks, dark marks, torturing and all." he finished with a grim satisfaction on his face. "We should probably take it as a compliment that the Dark Lord thinks us powerful enough at the ages of sixteen to join his merry men, after all he is, despite his insanity, the most powerful wizard in Britain.

"Not really, we've all just been lumped in with Goyle." He said disgusted. "Watching him at the dueling tournaments nearly made me cry, it was so horrible."

"So what did you do? I'm sure he asked you to join in person since you were there, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he did." Draco smirked victoriously "I spat in his face and disapparated. After being under the cruciatus curse, it wasn't so easy, but I managed not to splinch myself."

"Where did you go? Why didn't you come to us?"

"I rented a room in a hotel in London, in the muggle world." he said "I thought about seeking you guys out a few times, but I thought it would be better to lie low for awhile. I was afraid of giving away my location. They're just as much after me as they are any of the light side now..." The Ivanovs' gave him a sad look that he did not see as he was looking blankly at the stone wall in front of him. They both knew that Draco's own father was included in that 'they' and realized that they would rather their father be dead than have one that was so indifferent in regards to you that he was willing to sacrifice you.

"Well, I guess you'll be spending Christmas with us then, that is if you want to..." it was surprisingly Roman who said this and not Alexei. It seemed that Draco's running away had proven to Roman once and for all that Draco was not his father, nor would he ever be.

Draco gave a small smile. "I'd like that." he answered softly.

The meeting just sort of degenerated from there to lighter subjects like the party the night before, the quidditch game that day, and jokes about joining the team and kicking Draco's arse. It was then that they remembered the deal about watching the Potter kids, something that Draco thought would make everyone believe them to be light wizards. The boys instantly denied this, knowing that nothing would make them want to join any side in the war. They would much prefer to follow in their father's footsteps and keep out of the whole thing, unless of course it benefited them to do otherwise.

Alexei knew in the back of his mind that he should tell his friend about the revelation of his parentage, this talk about the Potter children was the perfect opportunity, but he couldn't. He wasn't ready to talk about it yet and didn't know what good it would do. Draco had enough on his mind right now, he didn't need to take on Alexei's family issues on top of his own. After all he could always tell him at Christmas.

Roman literally kicked him out of his thoughts, it seemed that Roman and Draco had been getting up to leave. "Come on Lex, it's 10:55, we gotta go back to the common room before we get caught by that greasy bat." he said, stretching. Draco sent him an affronted look at the slight on his Head of House. "All we need is a few more detentions."

"Yeah, that's for sure." Alexei responded dully. They had gotten their detention slips at dinner that evening, telling them the first one was on Monday at eight-o'clock. They would be scrubbing toilets without magic. _"Yaaaaaay..."_

"Oh, that reminds me! We never sent our response to Anya."

Draco, who was quite familiar with Anya's dreadful temper laughed. "You might as well wait, she'll have been sent a notice of your detentions and you can just respond to the howler you guys will get tomorrow."

The boys frowned, knowing he was quite right. Most likely one of the first sounds they would hear tomorrow morning was the sound of Anya screeching. Lovely.

* * *

**Please review! :) (virtual cookies for everyone who does!)**


	14. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or anything that, that would entail. Unfortunately.**

**A/N: Woo! Wasn't sure I'd get this chapter done so quickly, what with recovering from surgery and all, but I'm all done and now I can blame any and all mistakes or confusing moments on my drug induced state while writing this, yay! :) As always thank you all you wonderful peoples for typing up reviews and I would be most grateful if that could continue as reviews are verrrry helpful in the writing process and in general make me happy to know what people think of my story. **

**Also: Last night somewhere in between falling asleep and dreaming, I realized that the show All in the Family could be turned into a funny parody of Harry Potter. Vernon and Petunia could be Archie and Edith, Dudley is Gloria, Harry can be Mike, and the Jeffersons can be...wait for it... the Malfoys! Lucius is George, Narcissa is Wheezy, and Draco is Lionel. You can even have Draco dating Hermione to bring the tension of Lionel's interracial engagement just like in the show! I don't know if this has been done before, but if anyone reading this decides that they would like to write that story, then full steam ahead! Just tell me if you do, because I would love to read it. :)**

**Okay. So enough babbling- read on!  
**

**Chapter 13**

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* * *

**

"_Remus_!" hissed Lily. She pulled her head out of the blazing inferno to check behind her; it would do no good for James to come back right now. At best she had a thirty minute time slot between now and when James got back from the store. She turned back to see Remus Lupin climbing out of the fire and absently brushing off his robes.

Throwing pleasantries out the window, she grabbed him by the front of his patchy robes and threw him onto the plush sofa. How dare he stand there brushing dust off his robes? He knew how anxious she was!

Indeed, Remus reluctantly brought his amber-eyed gaze up to Lily's clear green and sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Lily..." he sighed wearily.

"Remus." she responded firmly.

"Lily, I don't know what exactly I am supposed to say. After all this is not exactly a topic that I broach everyday..."

Lily paced impatiently. Usually she loved Remus' calm and collected way of going about things, but right now she just wanted to know what information he had gathered and _now_. She did not have the time for the long drawn-out philosophical explanation, examined from every possible angle, that Remus was sure to give. "Just tell me what you think. It's not right or wrong, I just want to know your thoughts on the subject. And don't even think about asking me what subject, you know."

Remus sighed again and said quietly "He's just like James." he licked his lips and continued, "I mean it's scary, how much they are alike. It goes beyond looks, it's the way he talks, the way he laughs, he even runs his hand through his hair in that same irritating way that James always does." he said smiling in spite of himself and unconsciously mimicking those actions.

Lily's eyes widened to the size of galleons, her hand pressed over her mouth. She didn't dare speak, for fear that Remus would stop talking.

"And it's not just James that he's like, there's some of you too...he's really smart, he's gotten only full marks in every class I've had with him and whenever someone asks him a question he's more than willing to help them out, not to mention those glaringly obvious bright green eyes that could belong to no one else but you.

Lily nodded silently. She had noticed these things as well, but Remus' confirmation really sent it home to her. This wasn't just a hunch, or collection of odd coincidences, this was real. Her son, was in her _class_. Her son, her precious baby boy, was right here and safe.

Eyes shining with joy, she came back to Earth, to find Remus face looming in front of her own. He was grinning and she latched onto him, hugging him tightly. "He's back..." she whispered blissfully into his shoulder.

"Yes," he said as he pulled away "But now that we know, what do we do about it?" Lily opened her mouth but Remus talked over her, "Don't say we should tell him, because that's easy to say, but can you imagine actually doing it?" Lily shook her head. "We can't just go up to the boy and say this is your mother, we need proof."

Lily sat down heavily on her favorite chair. Of course, how had she forgotten about that? It's not like the boy would just take her at her word and rejoin the family...Besides it looked like he already had a family of his own, what if he didn't want to be part of the Potter family? Her heart nearly broke all over again at the traitorous thought.

Remus, seeing her face fall, he broke in sharply, "Now, don't get discouraged. It's just going to take some time."

"But Remus...what if-what if he doesn't want to know us, me and James?"

"Oh, Lily, I'm sure he will," his brows furrowed. "maybe not right from the start...you just need to take it slow...I imagine that this is going to be just as much of a shock to him as it was to us."

"What's going to be a shock to who?" The voice startled the two so much as to send them springing apart like polar magnets. Finding the speaker they relaxed.

Rachael had wandered into the office, her sharp hazel eyes glaring suspiciously at her mother and godfather.

"Oh, nothing darling, just Order business. What are you up to?" Lily shot out quickly, trying to recover from the panic attack her daughter's sudden appearance had given her.

Rachael continued to look suspicious but she allowed the change of subject. "I just wanted to talk to you that's all, but if you're busy..."

"Oh no, sweetheart, Remus and I were just finished chatting...It was nice to talking to you Remus, James should be back in a little while."

Remus nodded and agreed to come back a little later, the door snapping shut behind him.

Lily took her daughter by the arm and sat her down on the couch beside her, stroking the red strands of hair out of her eyes. "What's up? Boy trouble?"

Rachael rolled her eyes, "No, Mum, although I think that I'm the only girl in school that doesn't have a crush on those Ivanovs."

"Really?" she replied. Lily raised her brows, her son was a heart-throb. It made sense, James was quite good-looking and had been a popular boy in his own day, himself. She smiled a little at the thought,

Oblivious, Rachael continued, "Yeah, they're good looking and famous to boot. The girls in the dorm won't stop talking about them. They have posters of them all over the walls in the dorms and when I manage get away from _them_, the boys themselves are following me around."

"They are?" Lily frowned slightly at that. Why would they be doing that?

"It's odd, they went from not talking to anybody but Psycho Sera, to following me around twenty-four-seven."

"Don't call her Psycho." reproved Lily on auto-pilot. Meanwhile the phrase 'following twenty-four-seven' had her mind was going back to a conversation about a week ago when James had wanted to hire bodyguards...but no...he wouldn't go behind her back would he?

"Sorry, Mum. Habit." Rachael answered, chastised.

"Don't make it one. Anyways, that is strange. But what's this about them being famous?" wheedled Lily.

"Seriously, Mum?" You've never heard of them?" Lily shook her head confused. "They're only the most popular teenage duelists in the country! Just about every girl in the United Kingdom wants a chance with those two."

"But _you _don't, right?" Lily asked uneasily, she turned a bit green at the thought of her two children dating each other.

"Well, maybe Roman," she smiled slightly, "but Alexei looks too much like Dad. It's weird _and _it grosses me out." she stuck her tongue out in disgust.

Lily sagged in relief, "Oh, that's nice." At least she wouldn't have to be keeping an eye out for incest on top of everything else going on.

Rachael turned to her mother, her brows furrowed in confusion. "You're acting strange."

Lily blinked guiltily, she never was good at hiding things."Am, I?"

"Yes." her daughter answered firmly, nodding her head.

Just then, James strode in carrying an arm full of bags and began setting them down on the counter. Lily, thankful for the distraction, stood up to help with the packages. "Hello ladies, what's new?" he grunted, hitching a particularly heavy bag higher in his arms.

"Not much, Rachael's just been telling me about her first week of school."

"Oh, how did that go?" he answered absently, still dithering with the bags.

Rachael began to speak but Lily talked over her, "Good, except the Ivanov boys have suddenly started following her around. Any idea why they would be doing that, _James_?" Lily fixed him with a gimlet eyed stare.

James looked nervous for a second before covering it with a wide grin, which he bestowed upon his ever-more confused daughter. "Oh, I'm sure they just have realized what a beauty our little Rachael is turning into. She looks just like you did at that age Lils." He turned the focus of his grin to his wife, who was pulling a face at the renewed possibility of incest between her two eldest children.

"We will talk about this James."

James' eyes dropped to the carpet as he said morosely "Yes, love. Yes, I expect we will." Lily patted his cheek and started putting away the rest of the groceries.

* * *

Elsewhere in the castle, Sera Walker was waking up to the sound of someone hissing her name.

"_Sera! Sera! Serafina if you don't wake up right now, I swear I'll-_"

Sera reached over lazily, picking up the talking mirror and effectively ended the hissed diatribe. "You'll do what, Josie? You're in a frickin' mirror, for Merlin's sake..."

The image of her sister huffed and drew herself up importantly, "Well! You know I could just leave you now and let you face Mum and Dad's wrath, you're just lucky you have a sister as nice as me!" Sera's older sister Josie, or Josephine as she preferred to be called, had always been a bit of a prissy prude in Sera's opinion. She worked at the ministry under law enforcement and she still lived at home with their parents, who were constantly trying to find matches for 'their beautiful daughter Josephine!' Nevertheless Josie was very loyal and had always looked out for her less-than-perfect little sister even if she was always in trouble.

"Yeah, yeah, all hail the Mighty Josie...what do you want, it's-" she picked up her watch from her bedside table and groaned "seven a.m.!"

"I just thought you'd like to know that Mum and Dad got a letter about your detentions for that soiree that you and those boys threw the other night and they are not happy. Nope, not one bit." she shook her head in an irritatingly condescending sort of way, that made her some of her blonde curls fly out of her slick bun.

Sera groaned again. This was not good news. "How long before the howler arrives?"

"Approximately..." she too, checked her watch "an hour."

"Great." muttered Sera, putting her pillow over her head. Unfortunately this could not drown out her sister's voice, which continued on as if her audience even remotely cared what she was saying.

"You know, you could have avoided all of this if you had just gone against the crowd and not thrown a party. I mean sure, they may sound glamorous and all of that, but really, what do you really get other than a rather horrible headache and a wish that you could remember more and undo the things you can remember? All in all, not that fun-"

"Josie, I really appreciate you warning me about the howler, but if you don't shut up, I'm going to throw you into the wall..."

Josie's blue eyes narrowed suspiciously at the pillow her sister was hiding under. "You're not still hungover are you?"

Sera threw the pillow off of her face to stare at her sister's image in disbelief. "Jo, the party was two days ago! No, I'm not still hungover!"

"Well, I didn't-" she spluttered defensively, while her sister started smiling at her. "What?"

"Oh, nothing..." She continued to smile deviously at her now jittery looking sister. It sounded to Sera as if Josie had only ever heard of the effects of drinking, let alone been to a party. Which, honestly made sense what with Josie's proper nature. Josie was never one to let go of her control, not even for a second, getting drunk would be out of the question in her mind. Then and there, Sera made a vow to get Josie drunk before the year was out.

Obviously freaked out by the creepy grin her sister was giving her, Josie made a quick excuse about having to go to work- on a Sunday, her day off, mind you- and exited the frame.

Sera wiled away the hour before her howler arrived by getting a bit more sleep. When the scarlet, smoking letter arrived she had only to place a silencing ward around her bed and wait for the shouting to end. Four minutes later, Sera stumbled off of her bed for the showers, ears still ringing with shouts of "DETENTIONS ALREADY?", "-CAN"T KEEP OUT OF TROUBLE-" and her personal favorite, "FIND NEW FRIENDS!"

Sera snorted in a quite unladylike fashion. As if that was going to happen. No, she quite liked her friends, thank you very much. They were about as different from her old stuffy parents as it was possible to be. Her parents believed that because she was the youngest daughter of the Walker clan, that she was supposed to be a little princess that wore frilly little dresses and always did what she was told. Well, she supposed Josie had furthered their impression of that, as she had, by and large, fit that model to a 't'. But she was not that kind of girl and they were better off forgetting that wish.

Brushing her teeth, she wondered just what had changed to make her mum so different from Luna's mum. They had grown up in the same house, played together, gone to school together, and they had always seemed so close... Yet Sera's mum was all high society, and cocktail parties, while Luna's mum had been more of a mythical creature hunting trip, and mad experiments in the basement kind of witch.

But then, she guessed it was like with her and Josie; growing up together didn't make you the same person. Besides, her and Josie got along just fine despite all of their differences, why couldn't her and Aunt Rihannon?

She just wished that she had the same sort of relationship that she had always envied in Fred and George and one that she was coming to see in Roman and Alexei. They both had this bond that she would most likely never have with her sister, no matter how much time passed. It was like they were incomplete with out the other one around...like two halves of a whole. One could stand alone and be as strong as ever, but together they just seemed...more right. They understood each other without a word and there were no awkward silences or any second guessing involved when they interacted. They were just natural.

Heading down the staircase, she spotted the pair walking her way. She noticed that Alexei was rubbing his ears in a disgruntled sort of way and asked "You two get a howler as well?"

Roman grinned and nodded wickedly.

Alexei glowered at his brother and fixed his emerald stare on Sera grumbling "Prick stuck it under my pillow."

Sera's face split into a smile, he looked so cute when he pouted like that. "Aww...it's okay Lex, the pain will go away soon. Then you'll look back on this and laugh." she pecked him on the cheek.

"Tell that to my pillow, it set it on fire..." he muttered ruefully.

"And your hair." stated Roman, plucking a singed strand for examination. Alexei yelped and shoved his hand away with a half-hearted glare.

"So what did your howler say? Ours was the usual, get your arse in gear sort of thing." Alexei asked contentedly.

Sera's smile faltered a bit, "Pretty much the same, with an addition of finding new friends."

Roman placed a hand over his heart in mock shock. "Find new friends!" he pulled Alexei closer to him "Are we not good enough for you Miss Walker?" Sera hit him. "Ow!"

"Don't be daft. They've been telling me that for years and I haven't done that yet." she said reassuringly, taking a place between them both. She hugged them both to her as they walked to breakfast.

"Good. Hate to see you become boring." commented Alexei. Seeing her look he quickly amended "Not that I think that could actually happen."

Arm in arm, they strode down to the Great Hall, just missing a frantic redhead as she flew past them.

* * *

"Ginny!" yelled Rachael desperately. She needed her best friend, and she needed her now. "Wake up, now!" she screamed, shaking her sleeping friend from her slumber.

"Wha-?" Ginny tried to speak but was interrupted before she even could get the words out.

"I am completely wigging out. Earlier, I went down to my Mum's room just to talk, you know? And when I walked in-?"

Ginny had apparently found her voice and she sighed "Did you walk in on your Mum and Dad again?"

"No!" she shouted, blushing as dark as her hair at the memory. "Worse! I walked in on her and Remus!"

Ginny's jaw dropped. "No...Professor Lupin?"

"Yes! I walked in and they were holding each other and talking about how they were going to have to tell 'him' and that it would be a shock, but 'he' would understand!" Rachael spat out wildly, making crazy gestures with her hands. "Then when I asked what they were talking about, they jumped apart and acted like everything was normal!"

Ginny reached out and held her best friend, stroking her hair back from her face. "Poor you."

"Poor me? More like poor Dad...he'll die when he finds out..." The girls just stared sadly at each other, realizing the impact such a revelation would have on Mr. Potter.

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**A/N- okay this is a bit of a crazy chapter...lots going on and a bit of background information... tell me what you think- should I have waited until I was weened off of the hydrocodone? :)**


	15. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the laptop I wrote this on.**

**A/N: I'm off my drugs, my stitches are out, AND I just turned 18! The world is my oyster :) I had issues writing this chapter, because I think I wanted a little too much for it. I ended up having to cut out the original ending because of how much had to happen in between for it to make sense. So you'll be seeing the original ending again just not for at least another chapter. **

**Btw, thank you to all of you that reviewed the last chapter, reviews make my day :)  
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**Chapter 14  
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You know that nagging feeling you get sometimes, where you just know that someone is mad at you? That they are talking about you? That they just might be plotting something?

Remus knew that feeling well. The fact that it was a pair of fourteen year-old girls doing these things was not making it any more fun. His god-daughter, Rachael, and her best friend, Ginny, had been acting very strange around him lately and it was quickly becoming annoying. In their classes together, he was given the cold shoulder; questions were answered in one word, and glares were frequent. He had attempted to get to talk to Rachael about it, but she had tersely replied, "You know what this is about." and stalked away.

Like many men who have been at the receiving end of such a remark from an angry woman, he put it down to hormones and it possibly being, he shuddered, her time of the month...

For Remus, who had always been very close to Rachael, it was hurtful and confusing. However at the moment, he did not have the brain power to spare on solving this mystery; he was not delving into the dark depths of a young woman's convoluted psyche, at least not yet. He was currently throwing himself into the task of finding a way of proving, incontrovertibly, that Alexei Ivanov was in all actuality, Harry Potter.

There were ways of course; it was merely a matter of picking out which one would be the quickest and most effective under their constraints. There were many potions and spells that proved family lines but it was difficult to find one that suited their needs.

In the end, Remus decided that the simplest route they could take was to make use of the oldest known Paternity test, _Sanguis_.

_Sanguis _is the method goblins routinely use to determine heirs in the case of disputed wills, and involves ritualistic blood sacrifice to work. It is a very reliable way to determine such information, but under the laws of Ministry of Magic, _Sanguis _is only to be used under either Ministry supervision, or by a licensed Gringotts Goblin. Of course hiring an official ministry worker was unwise and goblins were loyal only to other goblins and gold; making a promise with a goblin was like renting trust until a better deal came along, at which point you were screwed. If word got out that Harry Potter had been found, not only would there be a media frenzy, but the newly risen Voldemort would be sure to target the boy.

Frustrating as this was, it was for good reason; the ritual can be highly dangerous if wrongly performed, causing serious injury and in some rare cases, death. As such, information on the ritual is hard to come by, since all books regarding the subject are illegal. Besides this difficulty, there was also the possibility that Alexei would not wish to provide the necessary blood for the ritual to succeed. Nevertheless, this was the best option available. All the other ways that Remus had discovered either took ages to prepare or were beyond their capabilities.

When Remus reported his findings to Lily, she was unsurprised. "I had come to the same conclusion as well…" she murmured. "It's the best plan we've got..." her voice died off, her mind apparently contemplating matters beyond the torch-lit castle room.

"The only problem is, how are we going to get a hold of the instructions?" Remus had been unsuccessful thus far in all attempts to acquire the books they needed. After his frenzy of searching he now found himself at a dead end. Lily's eyes lost their dreamy luster as she was forcefully brought back to earth, but it was just as quickly replaced by a look of determination that was almost frightening in its' intensity.

"Knockturn Alley of course." The silent addition of 'duh' was not unheard by Remus, who nearly cracked a grin at the mature Lily's momentary lapse into childishness. It had been so long since he had seen this petulant side of Lily, fifteen years in fact. This thought sobered him and brought him back to the task at hand.

"Who's going?"

* * *

They fought for over twenty minutes for the task of obtaining the necessary reading materials and in the end Remus won out, with the truthful statement that him being a werewolf made him less out of place in the alley if he was caught.

Dark creatures of all sorts frequented Knockturn and it would not be quite so unexpected for Remus to be there. That's not to say that Remus went there too terribly often, but he had been known to go on occasion, most recently for anti-dark arts objects to show his classes. Many would not believe you could find such wares in the infamous shopping district but Remus, knew that the Alley was only so dark as the visitor's intentions. If you were looking for something dark and evil, you would most certainly find it, but that was not all there was to be had.

Indeed, the following Wednesday during his lunch break found Remus passing a small, but bright ice-cream shop and a dingy, yet inexpensive quidditch supply store. He did not bother disguising his appearance, for the book store he would be visiting was small and he knew the shopkeeper from prior visits. The reason he had not checked this store previously was because of the likelihood of unsavory characters taking note of his purchases.

Again, the threat of word getting out was frightening to Lily and Remus. They knew they must avoid it at all costs, that was why the shopkeeper would be making a little bit extra today for keeping a vow of silence on Remus' activities. He bought a few extra books of a varied nature hoping that if someone were to ask about his purchases it would look merely like he was browsing rather than looking for one thing in particular.

After completing his mission, Remus had to fight himself not to run from the small, dark shop. He was bubbling with excitement at the thought of Harry being reunited with his true family.

That night, Remus picked up the book and hurried down to the Potter's living quarters. He knocked twice, but no one answered. Unsure, he gave the password and peeked around the doorframe like a frightened child. "Lily?" he hissed.

The sitting room appeared to be empty so he took a seat on the couch and sat back to begin reading up on the ritual. He had only just gotten the book out when he dropped it in shock. Someone had just emitted a shrill shriek that was echoing in his already sensitive werewolf eardrums.

"Remus! God, you gave me a fright!"

"Right back atcha..." he mumbled, stooping to retrieve the book from where it was splayed on the plush grey carpet.

Lily's eyes were glued to the cover. Her hand flew to cover her mouth and she whispered so softly it was nearly inaudible, "Is that...?"

"Yes," Remus smiled in triumph "Now we just have to read up on it and get the posse together-oomph!" Remus found himself in a Lily Potter death grip and was now fighting to breathe through all of the red hair that had flown into his mouth and obstructed his airways.

"Remus!" Lily cried, oblivious to the purple Remus' struggles. Luckily, or not, depending on who you ask, the near strangling was averted by a scream of rage.

"A-ha! Caught in the act!" Rachael was standing in the doorway, her schoolbooks piled around her feet and her hand pointing at the bewildered adults in an accusatory manner.

Remus merely blinked his confusion, hardly believing that in one day he had managed to knock out the problem of the book and would soon be discovering his god-daughter's recent hatred of all things Lupin.

"Rachael! You scared us!" scolded Lily, clutching her heart as though to ward off a heart-attack.

The small red-head stepped forward and slammed the door closed saying, "I'm glad I did, who knows what you guys would have done if I hadn't come in when I did!" Then, realizing just what she had said, Rachael screwed up her face and shook her head violently muttering "Bad images, bad images!"

Remus, for all his hopes that things would have started making more sense, was now more mixed-up than ever before. "Rae, what are you talking about?" He moved closer to his god daughter only to watch her move away.

"It's Ms. Potter to you traitor! I can't believe you would do this to Dad!" To the adults astonishment, Rachael's eyes were now swimming with unshed tears, further evidence of her anger. Rachael always cried when she was truly enraged, a fact that had always been a point of embarrassment for her.

Behind Lily, the floo flared to life and ejected one very tired looking James Potter. He was cleaning the soot off of his glasses when he appeared to notice the awkward silence pervading the room. Replacing them, he squinted in the dimly lit room, hazel eyes lighting on the tearful Rachael bringing a frown to his worn out face. "What's going on? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"I think, that is the question on everyone's minds." stated Lily her brows furrowed and arms crossed.

Rachael scoffed. "Oh, don't even bother pretending Mum, you're both as see-through as an invisibility cloak." she whipped around to face her father and adopted a look of mourning. "Dad, I don't want to be the one to tell you this, but it seems that I have to be the mature one here." she took a deep breath and said "Mum and Remus are having an affair."

There was an explosion of laughter and Rachael stomped her foot in fury. How dare they laugh when her father was in pain? She turned to her father to say something comforting but was struck dumb when she found him to be chuckling light-heartedly along with the two monsters lurking behind her.

"God...that..." Lily started but she caught eyes with Remus and they cracked up again.

Taking pity on his baffled daughter, James hugged Rachael tightly, trying to hold in the laughter that threatened to escape. "Rachael, love, I think you're a little confused." he said kindly.

Rachael pushed her father off and stubbornly answered "No, I'm not confused Dad, you're confused. They've been playing you and I won't let that happen any longer."

Remus had recovered from his fit of giggles and was now curious. "Rachael, what makes you think that your mother and I are having an affair?"

Rachael refused to look at him, but she answered nonetheless. "I heard and I saw. I walked in on you two twice in an embrace, and last time you were discussing how you should tell 'him'" she pointed to James "what you knew."

Lily and Remus' eyes widened significantly and Lily rushed to explain, "Oh, Rachael, that was something completely different! That had nothing to do with an affair of any sort. Trust me, dear, I could never go behind your father's back like that."

"Nor could I." agreed Remus.

"Well, what was it about then?" Lily and Remus blanched. "I'm waiting..." said Rachael tapping her foot.

"Nothing that concerns you." Lily stated firmly. When Rachael opened her mouth to argue, Lily continued. "Just rest assured that it's not what you thought it was, nor is it a bad thing, on the contrary it's a very good thing." she ended with a smile.

Lily took advantage of her daughter's silence to give her a hug and whisper, "Don't worry, we'll tell you very soon I expect."

Rachael nodded a defeated little nod and mumbled a good night as she gathered her books and shuffled out shamefully.

Lily decided to make some tea, and Remus sat down in the chair by the fire. James, however, was still standing. When Lily returned with the mugs of earl grey, James spoke. "So, what was that about. The 'him' that you were talking about?" he clarified when they appeared confused.

Lily shot a quick glance to Remus before lowering her mug and sighing "We've been meaning to tell you this...James? What is the one thing in the world that if you could have, would you wish for?"

James stared with freshly shuttered eyes before replying "You know the answer to that Lily."

"Yes, but...I want you to say it James." she gripped his hand in support.

Gathering strength from her touch, James answered quietly. "_Harry_. I would have Harry back..."

"And...what if...what if I told you that, that was possible?" she asked her lips trembling with nervous excitement.

James head spun to face her so quickly he cricked his neck. Ignoring the pain he asked "What are you saying Lily?"

"I..." Lily could not continue, she was fighting tears herself now.

"What Lily is trying to say James, is that we think we may have found Harry." James eyes bored into his Remus' amber as though testing them for truth. Finding no lie he stated in disbelief, "You're telling the truth. Who?" he asked frantically.

Remus nodded and said "Alexei Ivanov."

"The boy I hired as a bodyguard?" James demanded in shock.

Lily's eyes glinted at the confession. "The very same." James only stared at her, not realizing what he had just admitted or the trouble he would be in later. He was attempting to recall what the kid had looked like, but remembered he had been wearing sunglasses that had obscured much of his face. The most he could for sure say about the boy was that he had dark hair.

"How do you know this?" he quizzed.

"We don't know for sure yet, we haven't done an official test, but being around him for as long as we have we can tell. There's no doubt that he is yours and Lily's son." As James soaked this all in Remus continued, "We have acquired the instructions on how to perform the Gringotts Blood Test and we plan on using it, with Alexei's agreement, to prove it."

Lily had stopped listening to Remus' explanation and was instead watching her husband. He was pale and his eyes glittered strangely, staring deep into the fire. When Remus finished speaking James voice came out raggedly, "That is wonderful...but why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"We-" began Remus but Lily cut across him "That's my fault. I told him not to say anything, I didn't want to get your hopes up for something that was so unlikely...You understand, right?" His darkened hazel orbs were clouded with emotion as they met her clear emerald. He pulled his hand from her's gently and stumped away into the dark hallway. A few seconds later, a door creaked closed.

Remus, apparently under the impression that he had worn out his welcome, thanked Lily for the tea and bid her good luck and good night.

Lily sank back into the depths of her cushy armchair, sighing. It had been one hell of an evening. She didn't really expect James to be happy with her decision to keep this quiet, but she had hoped. They would talk in the morning. Oh yes, they definitely would.

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**A/N: So, how was it? Review please!**


	16. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own or pretend to own any part of the Harry Potter series. It all belongs to J.K. Rowling who just celebrated her 45th birthday. So Happy Birthday Jo and please don't sue me! :)**

**A/N: You know, some authors have trouble having two stories at once and forget to update both but I think this works for me. Whenever I get sick of one I write for the other one. Anyways I really enjoyed writing this chapter and it's definitely moving the plot forward. Thanks to all the readers and reviewers and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Chapter 15**

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Back in the Gryffindor common room, the Ivanov brothers were lounging by the fire. Roman had just put the finishing touches on his Charms essay, while Alexei was staring off in the direction of the girl's dormitories; Sera had just left to get ready for bed.

Roman, who had noticed his brother's distraction patronizingly advised, "Staring at the girl's dorms like that will not make them invisible." Alexei blushed slightly and Roman was a little surprised; Alexei was not one for embarrassment, especially not in the female department. "You _like_ her don't you? I mean _really_ like her, not like the others…"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alexei answered stubbornly.

Roman sighed, "Fine, be that way…when it finally hits you, it will only be that much harder."

"Since when have you been Doctor Love?" sneered Alexei.

"Never," defended Roman "However, I do know you very well and I can tell that this is different. You're acting all lovey-dovey around her."

"I am not." was his stiff reply.

"If you say so…" Roman answered doubtfully.

At that moment, the portrait-hole slammed open and Red-haired blur flew through the common room and slammed herself into one of the other unoccupied chairs by the fireplace.

Rachael looked a mess, her face was streaked with the evidence of tears, and her auburn locks stuck to the places as though glued there. Her aura gave off a vibe of anger and more than anything else, confusion.

Although Alexei had never known the girl less than two weeks ago, he felt like as her brother he should be doing something to help her, even if she wouldn't recognize it for what it was. "Er…Rachael?" the girl's red eyes met his uncertain green ones. "Is there erm…something wrong?"

The girl rolled her eyes in frustration and shoved her hair behind her ear with force. "No, I'm just peachy." she snapped.

"Fine," Alexei answered coolly, "We'll just leave you alone then." The boys made as if to leave her there and she backpedaled furiously. "No- don't do that, I'm sorry! I'm just upset, I didn't mean to snap."

They sat back down and Rachael explained how she had, had a huge misunderstanding with her parents, leaving out exactly what that had been, and though they had relieved her of worries, they had made her feel like an idiot and on top of that there was a new secret they would not reveal to her.

Roman shot a frightened look at Alexei, when a secret was mentioned. Had they been discovered? It was so quick that Rachael missed it searching her robes for a tissue, but Alexei mouthed "Later."

Alexei conjured a handkerchief and handed it to the wretched girl. Who took it gratefully, blowing her nose and sounding like a foghorn.

Roman told her in what he hoped was a calming voice, "Don't worry, about it too much…I'm sure they'll tell you soon."

"You sound just like them." she sullenly responded.

"Well, maybe they have a good reason." said Roman soothingly. He found that she was a lot like Lex in that she didn't like secrets and was seemingly prone to brooding about them. He was quite sure that, like his foster brother, she also held a lot of secrets. Appearing open, while simultaneously closed off…he'd have to watch her.

Alexei was awkwardly patting her on the back and nodding in agreement, adding, "And if they don't, we'll just have to beat the answers out of them, right?"

She gave a watery grin and replied "Right." She stifled a huge yawn and apologetically continued "Thanks for the talk you guys, but I'm too tired to stay up much longer. Good night, see you tomorrow."

"Night." They chorused and after an hour more lounging and "studying", they hauled their belongings up the stairs to the dorm. When they got in the room, it was dark but for a candle flickering on Roman's bedside table. The window was open and a light breeze was shuffling papers on Alexei's nightstand. Alexei was about to toss his books on his bed before he noticed a large, grey spotted owl on his bed. It had large, pupil-less black eyes making it demonic in appearance. It had a jet colored note clamped in it's sharp beak and Roman retrieved it warily. The owl took flight with a screech, it's wings clipping Alexei's head as it soared through the open window and disappeared into the inky blackness.

Roman seemed frozen in place, his eyes fixated on the envelope he held in his grasp. Alexei leaned over to see the offending parchment and felt his blood run cold. In the center as if branded, were the simple initials L.V. superimposed on an exaggeratedly elegant looking dark mark. "Open it…" murmured Alexei.

His brother shakily complied and ripped the parchment from its sleeve. The boys moved to Roman's bed and set privacy wards before Roman read the letter aloud.

_Alexei and Roman Ivanov, _

_You have been formally chosen as new recruits for the well-known and prestigious Death Eater's society. You have _

_been contacted due to your rumored skill and family connections. It is a great honor for anyone, no less someone _

_as young the two of you undoubtedly are, to be drafted into the ranks of revolutionaries such as my Death Eaters._

_ If you wish to accept, send a letter of confirmation back to me. If you do not, know that you have made _

_an extremely formidable enemy and are choosing the losing side. Also know, that if you plan to send a false letter_

_ of acceptance with either the plan of following the messenger, or spying on my activities, the first would _

_never be able to be tracked, and the second will only result in your pathetic lives ending very slowly and painfully. _

_Make no mistake, I do not give second chances, and this is your chance._

_ Lord Voldemort_

Both sat in silence, taking in what had just been read. Alexei let out a long breath and spoke. "We both knew this was coming, Draco did warn us."

Roman's dark brown eyes were bulging out of his skull "Yes, but it's so insane. I mean we just were recruited by Dumbledore a few days ago and now this."

How could Alexei _forget_? Dumbledore had called the pair for tea in his office the previous Sunday afternoon.

_Dumbledore poured sugar into his teacup filled to the brim with piping hot tea. He stirred idly and began "Well boys, I was the one who spoke with your sister, Anya, over the summer in regards to your enrollment and the reason I called you here today is that I was wondering how the two of you were settling in?" his eyes twinkled madly behind half-moon spectacles and he popped a sherbet lemon in his mouth, pushing the bowl forward in silent offering._

_Both boys ignored the bowl of brightly colored candies just as they did the tea that had been offered to them as well; their father would roll in his grave if he knew that his boys were accepting food from Albus Dumbledore. _

_Dimitri Ivanov had told them long ago of his dislike for Dumbledore's methods. The man, though well-intentioned, was conniving as any Slytherin Snake hidden in the golden mane of a Gryffindor. He would be more than willing to spike drinks and food if it meant that he could find out what needed to know._

_Roman replied "We're doing well; surprisingly we both enjoy it here."_

"_Even if the classes are boringly easy." added Alexei._

"_Ah," Dumbledore frowned slightly "That is one of the things I wished to speak to you about. I have had numerous reports about both of you from your professors detailing your marked skill with magic." He peered over his steepled fingers and pondered "It has made me wonder if in these troubled times you two would not want to do your part to prevent the darkness taking over."_

_Both boys stared at the man with narrowed eyes. _

_Disregarding these warning signs he continued, "I know that your father himself was neither for or against either side but I am sure that he would not want his children to grow up in alone in a world run by Death Eaters."_

"_You never knew our father and have no idea what he would want." Alexei responded coldly._

"_If you did, you would know that he would be just as displeased with a world run by your lackeys." said Roman fiercely._

_Well, I-" started Dumbledore, but was cut off by Alexei._

"_If we work for the 'light side' then we will not be under your command, we will be making our own decisions and have the most powerful members of your little club available to us."_

"_Now young man, you know as well as I do that, that can't be done. Even if I wanted to, the Order members would not allow themselves to take orders from two sixteen year-old boys without any formal schooling. It would also rise questions amongst the ranks if James and Lily Potter's son was back and no one knew what ideas he had been raised with."_

_Roman and Alexei were furious but their faces stayed cold as stone, only their clenched fists revealed their true feelings. _

_Dumbledore's eyes twinkled outrageously once more as he said, "Yes, I know about that particular secret. The question is what might I do with this information…The two of you are certainly within your rights to refuse my invitation, but you should bear in mind that I would no longer hold any inclination to keep that piece of knowledge quiet."_

_The boys stared stonily back at him and he decided that this meeting was over. "Well I think that was a very productive meeting, I hope we will be able to come up with terms suitable for all three of us. Good day."_

_Alexei and Roman stood up as one and Roman remarked, "You may think you have us old man, but you wait…this is not going to end well for you."_

_Dumbledore blithely called after them, "I expect your response by the end of the week." and took another sip of his tea as the door slammed so hard four portraits were knocked clean from their respective walls. _

Roman cleared his throat and proposed the idea that had been forming in his head ever since their meeting with the headmaster. "What if…what if we joined both and started our own organization. We could be the middle ground between the Light and the Dark, the Grey so to speak. In my opinion, that I know you share, both sides go too far in their allegiances. They are extremes and those in the middle are ridiculed and despised by both sides."

Alexei nodded ardently and cried "We could be the spies for both sides and work independently from them, it's brilliant!"

Roman grinned wickedly "Well, we've got our manifesto, now all we need is recruits and a name."

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**A/N: Short, I know, but what do you think? If you have any ideas on what the organization should be named, please leave them in the review box. I have no idea what I want to call it yet so I would definitely appreciate any feedback you have on that :)**


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